Ohio AG to oppose health care law ruling
Associated Press
CLEVELAND
Ohio’s Republican attorney general said Thursday he will file a court brief opposing a federal judge’s ruling that declared the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, potentially leaving nearly 2 million state residents with pre-existing medical conditions without health insurance should the decision be upheld.
Attorney General Dave Yost told The Associated Press that U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in December “got it wrong” when he struck down former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law after Congress eliminated the “individual mandate.” The mandate required people without health insurance to pay fines.
Judge O’Connor ruled on a case brought by a group of Republican state attorneys general.
Democratic attorneys general from 17 states appealed Judge O’Connor’s ruling in January at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where Yost said he planned next Monday to file an amicus brief in support of requiring insurers to provide coverage for those with pre-existing medical conditions.