U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Review Health Care Reform Law

By Michelle Wirth

Atlanta, GA – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to determine whether the nation's new health care law is constitutional. Georgia is one of 26 states participating in the legal challenge to the law.

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens says the court's decision to take up the case is a crucial step in the states fight against the health care law spearheaded by President Barack Obama.

Olens says the court has agreed to review whether the individual mandate exceeds the limited powers of Congress; whether the individual mandate, if unconstitutional, can be struck down on its own or whether the whole law must fall; whether the federally-mandated expansion of Medicaid exceeds Congress's power under the Spending Clause of the Constitution; and whether the Anti-Injunction Act affects the Court's jurisdiction to hear the challenge of the individual mandate.

Olens says congress overstepped its powers when it required all Americans to buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty.

"We agree that there needs to be health care reform, but we disagree with the forum used to accomplish that goal."

In a statement, Governor Nathan Deal called that mandate "crippling."
Olens says the case will determine the limits of congress.

"This case has the making to be the seminal case to determine that issue for a long time to come."

While the health insurance mandate is central to the Georgia's legal argument, Olens wants the entire health care law thrown out.

On the other side of the debate are supporters like Georgians for a Healthy Future. Cindy Zeldin is the group's president:

"We have nearly two million people who are uninsured in Georgia and we believe it will help improve those numbers, in terms of coverage and access to care. It's an approach that builds on the current system, and we believe that it's constitutional and will provide benefits for Georgians."

The court will hear arguments on the case in March. Federal appeals courts have been divided on the law. The 11th U.S. circuit court of appeals in Atlanta ruled the portion of the law requiring Americans to carry health insurance is unconstitutional.

A statement issued by The U.S. Justice Department in September said, "Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, and all of those challenges failed. We believe the challenges to Affordable Care Act, like the one in the 11th Circuit, will also ultimately fail and that the Supreme Court will uphold the law."