Federal judge in N.J. dismisses health overhaul challenge

According to press reports, U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson ruled that Nicholas Purpura and Donald R. Laster Jr., who filed their lawsuit without a lawyer, lack legal standing to challenge the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Bloomberg: U.S. Judge Dismisses Suit Challenging Obama Health Overhaul
A federal judge in New Jersey dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Obama administration's health care law. U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson ruled that two men who sued without a lawyer, Nicholas Purpura and Donald R. Laster Jr., lack legal standing to challenge the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They claimed the law's requirement that almost every American have some form of medical insurance starting in 2014 was unconstitutional. Purpura is 68 and claims he would lose "Medicare Advantage," while Laster is handicapped and said that as a result of the law, he would "be tax [sic] on medical devices that cross state lines, and will suffer restrictions to certain drugs," Wolfson wrote (Voreacos, 4/21).

Modern Healthcare: Court Rejects N.J. Residents' Anti-Reform Suit
A federal judge in Trenton, N.J., rejected a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson threw out the lawsuit, Purpura v. Sebelius, filed by two New Jersey residents against the law on jurisdictional grounds Thursday after finding an "absence of any facts about the effect of these harms on plaintiffs as individuals" (Daly, 4/21). 

Kaiser Health News staff writer Bara Vaida is tracking legal action surrounding the health law, and has updated the status of the various cases currently pending, as of April 22. Check out the scorecard.