20 States Sue Government Claiming Repeal Of Individual Mandate’s Tax Penalty Renders Law Unconstitutional
The states also say in the suit that because the health law doesn't have a "severability clause" — a provision that says if one part of the law is struck by the courts, the rest would stand — if one part of it is struck down, the rest is invalid.
Reuters:
Twenty States Sue Federal Government, Seeking End To Obamacare
A coalition of 20 U.S. states sued the federal government on Monday over Obamacare, claiming the law was no longer constitutional after the repeal last year of its requirement that people have health insurance or pay a fine. Led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, the lawsuit said that without the individual mandate, which was eliminated as part of the Republican tax law signed by President Donald Trump in December, Obamacare was unlawful. (Beech, 2/27)
Politico:
20 States Sue Over Obamacare Mandate — Again
The GOP tax law "eliminated the tax penalty of the ACA, without eliminating the mandate itself,” the states argue in a complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas. “What remains, then, is the individual mandate, without any accompanying exercise of Congress’s taxing power, which the Supreme Court already held that Congress has no authority to enact." The Supreme Court in 2012 upheld Obamacare’s individual mandate in one of the highest-profile court cases in years. The justices did not agree then with the Obama administration’s main argument that the mandate penalty was valid under the Commerce Clause. But the justices did say that the mandate was a constitutional tax. (Haberkorn, 2/26)
In other national health care news —
Stat:
Drug Makers Lobby For Antibiotic Incentives In Pandemic Preparedness Bill
A big legislative package due for renewal later this year could include hundreds of millions of dollars of drug incentives — and the medical community is already jostling to shape its contents. The Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act, a 2013 update of a 2006 law, is slated to end in September. It helps fund disaster-response initiatives such as vaccines for smallpox, diagnostic tests for influenza, and hospital programs to treat victims of a nuclear attack. (Swetlitz, 2/27)
The Associated Press:
Flu Shot Doesn't Cause Influenza Epidemic
You can't get the flu from a flu shot. And public health officials aren't blaming the vaccine for causing this season's nasty epidemic. Some "natural" health websites have misrepresented remarks of a Wisconsin county public health nurse, Anna Treague, who was trying to explain to a local newspaper why this year's influenza vaccine was not as effective as other years. (2/26)
The Washington Post:
The Heart Skips A Beat With Palpitations But It May Not Be Serious
You might feel them as skipped heartbeats or unusually forceful beats. One friend describes her heart palpitations as a soft fluttering that starts in her chest, moves to her neck and sometimes makes her cough. Another says her heart feels as if it’s flipping over in her chest. Mine come in a “pause-thump” pattern that occasionally make me lightheaded. “Heart palpitations” is a catchall term used to describe anything unusual that people feel in the rhythms of their hearts. And pretty much everyone has them at some point, said Gregory Marcus, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the University of California at San Francisco. (Sohn, 2/26)
The Washington Post:
Autism Connection To Ultrasound Seems Unlikely, Study Says
Ultrasounds during pregnancy can be lots of fun, offering peeks at the baby-to-be. But ultrasounds aren’t just a way to get Facebook fodder. They are medical procedures that involve sound waves, technology that could, in theory, affect a growing fetus. With that concern in mind, some researchers have wondered if the rising rates of autism diagnoses could have anything to do with the increasing number of ultrasound scans that women receive during pregnancy. (Sanders, 2/26)
Kaiser Health News:
Following The Fire: Montana Scientists Seize Chance To Scrutinize Smoke Exposure
Jean Loesch and her family live in Seeley Lake, Mont., which saw the longest and most intense smoke from Montana’s wildfires last summer. Loesch has 10 children, adopted or in her foster care, and they are learning what it’s like to have lingering respiratory problems. The smoke from the fires was so thick outside, Loesch said, the family couldn’t see the trees across the street, so they stayed inside. It was still really hard to breathe. (Saks, 2/27)