Federal Judge in Florida Rules 0bamacare Unconstitutional; 500 MORE waivers granted by HHS

A U.S. Judge in Pensacola, FL struck down the Healthcare Act as being unconstitutional on Monday, presenting the biggest challenge yet to the partisan bill that was signed into law last year. The ruling on Monday was more sweeping in scope than a December ruling in Virginia that declared the individual mandate to exceed Congressional authority, as Judge Roger Vinson was hearing the case where 26 states filed suit against HR 3590.

"Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void. This has been a difficult decision to reach, and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications," Vinson wrote.

Referring to a key provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, he sided with governors and attorneys general from 26 U.S. states, almost all of whom are Republicans, in declaring it unconstitutional.

"Regardless of how laudable its attempts may have been to accomplish these goals in passing the Act, Congress must operate within the bounds established by the Constitution," the judge ruled.

The ruling came after the House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal HR 3590 and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued 500 new healthcare waivers.- this brings the total number of 0bamacare waivers to over 700.

A good number of the entities that have successfully obtained waivers from HHS include many of the same labor unions who supported the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This naturally begs the question of why they would seek an exemption from legislation they had been so supportive of.