A federal judge in Harrisburg, Pa., ruled Sept. 13 that the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that individuals purchase health insurance is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner struck down the so-called individual mandate, saying that the government overstepped its constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce by requiring that individuals buy health insurance.
This is the fourth time in a month that the courts have ruled on the individual mandate.
In August, a federal appeals court in Atlanta struck down the individual mandate, saying it violated the Commerce clause.
And on Sept. 8, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., dismissed two separate lawsuits challenging the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, both on procedural grounds. Legal experts predict that the constitutionality of the individual mandate will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
The Harrisburg case was brought by Barbara Goudy-Bachman and Gregory Bachman, a married couple from Etters, Pa., who argued they would be adversely affected by the requirement to purchase insurance in 2014. The couple is self-employed and currently do not have health insurance.
In court documents, the Bachmans said that if they were required to purchase health insurance, they would not be able to afford the payments on a new car they want to purchase.