Appeals Court Says Individual Insurance Mandate Is Constitutional

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A federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the constitutionality of a key part of the health care reform law yesterday, ruling that the “individual mandate” requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance is legal. This was the fourth federal court to find the law constitutional; two other courts have ruled that Congress exceeded its powers in passing the law.

In the case decided yesterday, which was brought by Ohio officials, a panel of three judges voted 2-1 in favor of the mandate, with one of the supporting votes being cast by Judge Jeffrey Sutton, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, who stated that “Not every intrusive law is an unconstitutionally intrusive law.”

Both proponents and opponents of the health care reform law expect the Supreme Court to be the final arbiter of the law's constitutionality.

To read more coverage of the health care reform law, see Psychiatric News at http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/1/11.1.full and http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/10/17.1.full.