Florida Federal Judge says Health Reform Law Unconstitutional

A Federal Judge in Florida has, apparently with some reluctance, has declared the Health Care Reform bill unconstitutional.

To quote Federal Judge Roger Vinson:

"... I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate. That is not to say, of course, that Congress is without power to address the problems and inequities in our health care system. The health care market is more than one sixth of the national economy, and without doubt Congress has the power to reform and regulate this market. That has not been disputed in this case. The principal dispute has been about how Congress chose to exercise that power here.

Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void."

In other words you can't force someone to buy Health Insurance.

This is an interesting twist. States force individuals to buy auto insurance if they wish to drive. Of course not having auto insurance doesn't keep people from driving. Guess who ends up paying if they have an accident and injure someone? The other insured drivers do. That's you and me. A part of our insurance payments establish a fund to cover accidents caused by uninsured drivers.

Now unless uninsured people who get sick are denied medical attention, us, the insured folks, will end up paying for that as well.

I'm not seriously proposing we deny uninsured people medical care so I guess that's the way it will have to be. I'm not about to instruct a Federal Judge on the law either. Undoubtedly the Obama Administration will appeal. I find it hard to believe they will prevail now that two judges have declared the individual mandate unconstitutional.

There comes a time in every game when the right move is to drop back 15 and punt. That time may have come for the current Health Care Reform legislation.