ThinkProgress Wonk Room Yglesias Progress Report The Wonk Room Previewing Florida's Health Care Lawsuit. By Igor Volsky at 12:05 pm. Previewing Florida's Health Care Lawsuit. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum (R).
1) No standing: States don&8217;t have the standing to challenge the individual mandate because they will never have to pay a penalty or take out insurance. The two individual plaintiffs that have been added to the Florida case are also irrelevant because they demonstrate no current injury. The provision does not take effect for another four years and any har is merely speculative. What&8217;s more, the plaintiffs insurance status could change between now and 2014 ensuring that they dont have to pay a penalty for not purchasing coverage.
2) Cant get around the Anti-Injunction Act: The Anti-Injunction Act, forbids courts from restraining the assessment or collection of any federal tax.&8221; Since the plaintiffs themselves allege that the penalty under the mandate is an unconstitutional tax, they recognize that they fall within the scope of the Act.
3) Insurance commerce: Congress can regulate commerce: Congress has determined that the individual mandate is an essential part of this larger regulation of economic activity, and that its absence would undercut Federal regulation of the health insurance market. Even the failure to buy a product constitutes commerce because individuals who do not carry insurance are participants in the health care market and end up receiving treatments from traditional providers for which they either do not pay or pay very little. Congress found that the cost of providing uncompensated care for the uninsured was 43 billion in 2008.
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