Filed by KOSU News in US News.
August 12, 2011

A U.S. appeals court has ruled in favor of 26 states that filed suit to challenge a requirement in President Barack Obama’s healthcare law that forced individuals to own health insurance. The law’s “individual mandate” portion was declared unconstitutional, according to Reuters.

The court has apparently ruled that the remainder of the law, without the individual mandate, can stand, Reuters reports.

In late June, the healthcare overhaul was upheld by an appeals court, which found that “the health care mandate requiring everyone to have health insurance or pay a penalty does not violate the Constitution,” as Nina Totenberg reported for All Things Considered.

The new ruling comes from the U.S. Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta. As the AP reports, “the decision didn’t go as far as a lower court that had invalidated the entire overhaul as unconstitutional.”

Many legal experts expect the constitutionality of the individual mandate section of the health care overhaul to eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In another development concerning the health care overhaul Friday, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that signatures on a petition circulated by opponents of the health care plan were valid, clearing the way for a November vote on portions of the legislation dealing with changes to individual insurance. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]