Judges named to hear challenge to health care law

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The federal appeals court in Atlanta on Wednesday named the three judges who will preside over the June 8 arguments involving a constitutional challenge to the federal health care law.

Chief Judge Joel Dubina of Montgomery, appointed in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, will be joined by Judges Frank Hull of Atlanta and Stanley Marcus of Miami -- both appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997. They will hear the Obama Administration's appeal of a Florida judge's ruling that struck down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in its entirety.

Georgia and 25 other states will ask the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to declare the law unconstitutional.

In a recent filing before the 11th Circuit, the states said that by requiring people to obtain health insurance, the law "marks the first time in our nation's history that Congress has required individuals to enter into commerce as a condition of living in the United States."

The states said the so-called individual mandate was "an unprecedented assertion" of congressional power and wondered how far Congress will go if the law is upheld.

The administration has argued the law will improve the market for health care and fulfill two fundamental goals: It prevents people from shifting the costs of their care to others in the health care market and it bars insurers from denying coverage or setting premiums based on medical condition or history.

Millions of people without health insurance consume health care services -- $43 billion in 2008 alone -- for which they cannot pay, the administration has told the court.