Goldwater Institute

As we saw, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals became the first federal appellate court to find the Obamacare individual mandate unconstitutional last Friday. I filed briefs in that case on behalf of the American Civil Rights Union urging that result. More important than the ruling is what the trend is showing. For all that matters in the end is what five Justices on the Supreme Court say.

While state lawsuits against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continue, physicians are presenting their side of the argument. According to an article published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the individual mandate that all must have health insurance is the only way to expand health care access and keep costs from ballooning.

Against IPAB before it existed. As I reported earlier this week, the central question in the Goldwater Institute’s constitutional challenge to the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) created by last year's health care law is whether or not the board, which is intended to restrain the growth of Medicare spending, passes the “intelligible principle” test.

Medicare is in serious trouble. The Medicare Trust Fund will be bankrupt in 2024, according to the 2011 Medicare Trustees Report — five years earlier than projected just last year.

Today, the House held a second hearing on the rogue board of Medicare spending czars created by Obamacare. This mother of all death panels is known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). My column looks at growing Democrat opposition to the entity, which would have unprecedented authority over health care spending. Seven Dems are co-sponsors of a House IPAB repeal bill On the Senate side, GOP Sen. John Cornyn is introducing an IPAB repeal bill.