Health-Care Challenge Allowed to Proceed

The next battle over health-care overhaul begins: A federal judge in Florida has allowed important parts of a lawsuit against health-care reform to move forward. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, a Reagan appointee, ruled that two of the charges brought by 20 attorneys general warrant a hearing: that the individual mandate to purchase health insurance exceeds Congress’ authority, and that reform infringes upon state control of Medicaid. Vinson rejected the claim that the penalty leveled against people who don’t buy insurance is a “direct tax,” but the two challenges he allowed to move forward strike at the heart of the new health-care policy.