Missouri’s Democratic Attorney General Opposes Health Law
Chris Koster, the state's A.G., urged a federal judge on Monday to rule against the health law's individual mandate.
The New York Times: Democrat In Missouri To Oppose Health Care Law
Missouri's Democratic attorney general broke with his party on Monday and urged a federal judge to invalidate the central provision of the new health care law (Sulzberger and Sack, 4/11).
The Associated Press/Wall Street Journal: Missouri Steps Up Fight Against Health Law
Breaking months of silence, Missouri's Democratic attorney general asserted Monday that Congress overstepped its constitutional powers when it mandated that most Americans have health insurance or pay a penalty (4/11).
Reuters: Missouri's Democratic AG Splits With Obama Over Health Care
Missouri's Democratic attorney general on Monday joined the largely Republican-led effort to have President Barack Obama's 2010 health care overhaul ruled unconstitutional. Chris Koster, a former Republican legislator who switched parties when he ran for attorney general, filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the appeals panel hearing a closely watched challenge to the health care law filed by Florida and more than two dozen other states. Koster's action does not mean Missouri has formally joined that lawsuit, which claims Obama and Congress overreached by imposing minimum coverage requirements on individuals (Murphy, 4/11).
In other court-related news -
Modern Healthcare: Health Care Coalition Files Friend-Of-The-Court Brief In Appeal of Fla. Ruling
A coalition of six industry groups that say they represent virtually every hospital and health system in the country has filed a friend-of-the-court brief (PDF) with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta arguing that a judge in Pensacola, Fla., should not have struck down the year-old health care reform law. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled Jan. 31 that the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was constitutionally invalid because Congress did not have the power to compel private individuals to purchase insurance. The ruling agreed with the arguments of officials from 26 states who said lawmakers were improperly trying to regulate the "economic inactivity" of the uninsured (Carlson, 4/11).