A blow to the mandate, but not the entire law:
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the individual-coverage mandate in healthcare reform is unconstitutional, but said the rest of the law can stand.That last line says it all. There have been numerous federal court decisions on the health care bill so far. We could all spend a lot of time trying to dissect this ruling, all 300+ pages of it. But, on this issue, only one court ruling will matter. And, we won't see that for another year.
The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals comes in the highest-profile challenge to the new law's requirement that most people buy insurance. The suit was filed by 26 states.
Friday's decision moves the battle over the mandate one step closer to the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in the summer of 2012.
