HPIO analysis: Sixth Circuit Upholds ACA’s Minimum Coverage Mandate

[Editor’s note: The following analysis is the first in a series of health policy bulletins HPIO plans to release on timely issues involving federal or state health policy.]

By Reem Aly, Esq.
HPIO Health Policy Associate

On June 29, as a divided panel along non-partisan lines, the Sixth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (the "individual mandate"), becoming the first Circuit Court in the country to rule on the constitutionality of the mandate. 

Sixth Circuit Judges Boyce F. Martin, Jr. and Jeffrey S. Sutton affirmed the constitutionality of the mandate under the Commerce Clause.  In a dissenting opinion, United States District Judge James L. Graham concluded that the individual mandate exceeded Congress’s authority.

Continue reading