A big day for the multi-state challenge to the health law

An Atlanta federal court of appeals will hear oral arguments today on whether to reverse an earlier decision by a Florida judge to overturn the law.

McClatchy / The Miami Herald: Federal Health Care Law Challenge Goes Before Court Of Appeals
Florida already leads a lawsuit challenging the federal health care law, but state officials are going a step further and ignoring the law almost entirely — rejecting millions of federal dollars to provide health care for retirees, seniors, children and people with disabilities. So far this year, Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-led Legislature have returned or refused to spend at least $19 million in federal dollars associated with implementing the health care law. Scott has stopped any state planning for the creation of mandated health care exchanges, which will let consumers comparison shop for health care plans (Zink, 6/8). 

The Associated Press: Health Overhaul Fight In Pivotal Atlanta Court
The latest round in the ongoing fight over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is being heard in the federal appeals court in Atlanta. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday on whether to reverse a Florida judge's ruling that struck down the law (Bluestein, 6/8). 

News Service of Florida: Federal Health Care Law Argued In Court This Week
Florida and other states spearheading the lawsuit also make another key argument: The federal government is improperly trying to "coerce" them with the law's expansion of Medicaid eligibility. ... While [Judge] Vinson agreed with Florida and the other states on the insurance requirement, he rejected their argument that the law would improperly expand Medicaid eligibility. The expansion, which would raise income-eligibility levels to allow more people to qualify for Medicaid, would help meet the law's goal of almost all Americans having health coverage (Saunders, 6/6). 

CQ HealthBeat: States And Feds to Renew Court Battle Over Health Care Law Wednesday
The 26 states lined up against the health care law will have another day in court on Wednesday when their lawyers argue against the expansion of Medicaid and the requirement that all Americans have health insurance before a panel of appeals judges in Atlanta. Their last time out, in front of Judge Roger Vinson in federal district court in Florida, the law was declared unconstitutional in the case brought by the states, the National Federation of Independent Business and two individuals. The government appealed that decision (Norman, 6/7). 

Fox News: States Objecting To Health Care Law To Get Appeals Court
For the third time in five weeks, the Obama administration's legal point man for defending the president's health care overhaul will walk into a federal appellate courtroom Wednesday to defend the controversial measure as an appropriate and proper exercise of the government's power. Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal has steadfastly argued the law, passed in March 2010, is a necessary and reasonable response to halt the increasing costs of medical care despite claims by 26 state governments and the largest small-business group in the nation that the law's requirements are unconstitutional (Ross, 6/7).

ABC: Obama Health Care Bill Next Up For Appeals Court Challenge
A federal appeals court in Georgia Wednesday is poised to hear a challenge brought by 26 states to the Obama administration's health care law. Although appeals courts in Ohio and Virginia have heard similar challenges to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, Wednesday's case has drawn increased attention because of the number of states involved and because a lower court judge invalidated the entire law when he ruled against the Obama administration in January (deVogue, 6/7).