Legal Commentary

Goldwater Institute Files Challenge to ObamaCare:

By Todd Zywicki

The Goldwater Institute in Arizona has filed a legal challenge to ObamaCare.  Details and complaint here.  I am privileged to serve as a Senior Fellow for Goldwater, but I have nothing to do with the case.

The clients they are representing are:

? Nick Coons of Tempe, Ariz., owns his own computer sales and repair business and pays for health care out of his pocket. However, he will face heavy fines from the IRS if he doesn?t buy a government-approved health insurance plan by 2014.

? U.S. Representatives Jeff Flake, Trent Franks, and John Shadegg have a constitutional duty to oversee how the health care bill is carried out, and a First Amendment right to vote in the best interests of Arizona citizens. But the health care bill says Congress cannot overrule the decisions of the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Congress also can?t repeal the agency, except for a short time in 2017. Representatives Franks, Flake and Shadegg are forbidden by the health care bill from doing the job that Arizona voters elected them to do.

? The 29 Arizona lawmakers we represent also have a First Amendment right to vote solely in the best interests of their constituents. Earlier this year, these lawmakers sought to resolve extreme budget deficits by voting to reduce the state?s relatively generous funding for Medicaid. Those reductions were signed into law as part of the state budget for fiscal year 2011. But passage of the federal health care bill forced the Legislature to restore all state support for Medicaid or Arizona would have lost more than $7 billion in federal funding. Next year, Arizona has to expand Medicaid, which was originally intended to provide basic health care for the poor. Starting in 2011, state Medicaid programs must provide coverage to people who are in the middle class by federal standards.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on August 12, 2010 (boomark / email).