Florida Attorney General Files Motion to Add Six New States to Lawsuit Challenging Federal Health Care Law
Tallahassee, FL – Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi today filed a motion
to add six States to the federal health care lawsuit – Iowa, Ohio, Kansas,
Wyoming, Wisconsin and Maine. This motion brings the number of states to
26, including Florida and the National Federation of Independent Business
(NFIB), in challenging the federal health care law as unconstitutional.
Also challenging that law in a separate lawsuit is Virginia, and Oklahoma
has announced its intention to do the same.
“It sends a strong message that more than half of the States consider the
health care law unconstitutional and are willing to fight it in court,”
said Attorney General Bondi. “I look forward to continuing to defend
Florida’s families and businesses against this unconstitutional law and
upholding the Constitution.”
The Florida lawsuit challenges not only the law’s requirement that
individuals purchase health insurance or face a penalty, but also its
substantial and costly Medicaid expansion. Florida Governor Rick Scott and
32 Governors wrote the White House protesting the “one-size-fits-all”
Medicaid approach forces states “to cut other critical programs.”
“Having a majority of the nation’s states involved in this case along with
NFIB, who represents more than 350,000 small businesses nationwide, sends a
strong message to the courts that this law is detrimental to the entire
nation and must be overturned,” said Karen Harned, executive director, NFIB
Small Business Legal Center.
Prior to today’s filing, the bipartisan lawsuit included the following
states in addition to Florida: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona (Governor, and now
Attorney General), Colorado, Georgia (Governor, but now Attorney General ),
Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi (Governor), Nebraska,
Nevada (Governor), North Dakota, Pennsylvania (Attorney General, but now
Governor), South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
