Articles and Speeches
Virginia Federal District Court Judge Rules Individual Mandate Unconstitutional
January 5, 2011
Rebekah N. Plowman
As appeared in the American Health Lawyers Association's Healthcare Liability & Litigation Health Briefs, December 2010.
U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia Henry E. Hudson ruled that the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision (commonly referred to as the "individual mandate") requiring every U.S. citizen maintain a minimum level of health insurance coverage (with limited exceptions) or pay a penalty was unconstitutional. Rather than strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (Act) as unconstitutional, Judge Hudson severed the individual mandate from the remainder of the Act. He further declined to grant Virginia's request for injunctive relief finding "no compelling exigencies" based, in large part, upon the key provision's 2013 implementation date.
