States file briefs against health law's Medicaid expansion

In a brief filed Tuesday, the 26 states that are involved in a challenge to the health law argued the measure's Medicaid expansion is "unconstitutional coercion" and linked it to the individual mandate.

Politico: Health Care Reform Lawsuit: States File Legal Arguments Against Medicaid Expansion
Twenty-six states on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn the health care reform law's mandatory state expansion of the Medicaid program, a sleeper issue in the health care reform lawsuit that could determine how much leverage the federal government has with the states on any issue (Haberkorn, 1/10).

The Hill: States Link Health Law's Medicaid Expansion To Individual Mandate
The 26 states challenging President Obama's healthcare law sought to link the law's Medicaid expansion to its individual insurance mandate in a brief filed with the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The states say the law's Medicaid expansion is coercive -; that it goes beyond the program's traditional federal-state partnership and essentially requires states to participate in Medicaid. No federal court has sided with the states on that point, but the Supreme Court nevertheless agreed to hear the Medicaid challenge along with the states' suit over the requirement that almost everyone purchase insurance (Baker, 1/10).

CQ HealthBeat: Medicaid Expansion In Health Care Law An Unconstitutional Coercion, States Say
Limiting the power of Congress to use federal tax dollars to make states adopt certain laws is a "constitutional necessity," the 26 states challenging the health care law argue in a brief dealing with the measure's Medicaid expansion; the brief was filed with the Supreme Court on Tuesday. And if the law's mandated expansion of Medicaid coverage to 16 million uninsured Americans does not prove the need for that limit, "then no Act of Congress ever will," the states say in their 123-page brief (Norman, 1/10).

Reuters: States Oppose Obama Healthcare Medicaid Law
Twenty-six states challenging President Barack Obama's sweeping healthcare overhaul filed a U.S. Supreme Court brief on Tuesday arguing the law unconstitutionally expands the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled. By threatening a loss of federal funds, Congress unconstitutionally coerced states into expanding their Medicaid programs, the states led by Florida argued. They said states have no real alternative but to keep participating in Medicaid (Vicini, 1/10).

Also related to the court's consideration of the health law -

The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog: Tax Anti-Injunction Act? Whatevs … Just Sue The States
Before the Supreme Court reviews the challenges to President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul, it has to answer another question: Is the whole thing premature? Federal appellate judges in the Fourth Circuit and the D.C. Circuit have said the courts are barred from ruling on the merits of the challenges until 2015. They point to a Reconstruction-era law called the Tax Anti-Injunction Act, which prohibits courts from striking down tax laws before they take effect. ... But nobody wants this case to drag on to 2015. Not Obama, and certainly not the folks who are trying to have the law struck down as unconstitutional (Palazzolo, 1/10).

And check out the Kaiser Health News resource page, The Supreme Court Decides: Health Law At The High Court, for detailed analysis, charts, documents and additional coverage.