Appeals court tosses out health challenge brought by New Jersey docs

The opinion, which affirms the lower court's finding, is also a reminder — according to CQ HealthBeat — that decisions still haven't been announced in two other pending suits.

Bloomberg: New Jersey Doctors' Group Loses Bid to Reinstate Health Care Law Challenge
A U.S. appeals court rejected a bid by group of New Jersey doctors to reinstate their lawsuit challenging the federal health-insurance overhaul. New Jersey Physicians Inc., a nonprofit group, and an uninsured patient identified only as "Patient Roe" failed to adequately plead a concrete or actual injury, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled today. The ruling affirms a lower-court decision tossing the case in December (Pearson, 8/3).

CQ HealthBeat: Health Care Suit By New Jersey Docs Tossed, But Where Are the Rest?
An appeals court panel on Wednesday said that a group of New Jersey doctors don't have the legal right to challenge the health care law and threw out their suit. It represented a small win for the Obama administration in its long slog to defend the law. But the opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit was a reminder that there's still no decision announced on two other suits filed by the commonwealth of Virginia and Liberty University, nearly three months after both were heard in oral arguments by the 4th Circuit (Norman, 8/3).

To reflect the latest developments, Kaiser Health News updated its Scorecard: Tracking Health Law Court Challenges (Vaida, 8/3).