AHIP Files Brief in VA Case
03/09/11
By Hadley Heath
In the Virginia case, America's Health Insurance Plans has filed a brief. From CQ Healthbeat:
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), however, did not side either with the Department of Justice, which is defending the law, or with the commonwealth of Virginia, which is arguing against it. The brief “focuses solely on the economic consequences that would inevitably occur if the personal coverage requirement is removed from the law while the major insurance market reforms remain,” the trade group said in a statement.
AHIP represents about 1,300 insurance companies. It's hard to ignore the fact that health insurance companies like the individual mandate. Judge Hudson ruled in the Virginia case that the individual mandate was unconstitutional. The lack of a severability clause brings into question whether or not the rest of the law could still stand if one unconstitutional part were removed. Judge Vinson in Florida said no, and pointed out that the whole law must be voided because of the individual mandate.
The decision of the Supreme Court on this matter will depend on the Court's view of severability and the extent to which the rest of the law relies on the individual mandate.
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