TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 16, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral argument this morning in Chicago in AAPS v. Koskinen, a lawsuit brought against the Obama Administration's unilateral changes to ObamaCare.
President Barack Obama, though the IRS, has imposed the Individual Mandate to compel millions of Americans to purchase health insurance. But the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), more commonly known as ObamaCare, was passed to protect employees of companies having 50 or more employees by compelling those corporations to provide affordable health insurance for their workers, states AAPS.
Obama has waived the Employer Mandate for 2014, and much of it for 2015 also, but is still imposing the Individual Mandate on workers anyway. The President's rewriting legislation, without congressional approval, violates the separation of powers in the U.S. Constitution, AAPS argues. This change has the effect of pushing many workers of large companies into buying health insurance that they would not otherwise want.
Many AAPS physicians have cash practices, which welcome patients who do not have health insurance whether by patient choice or otherwise. Now that ObamaCare is forcing millions of these Americans to pay for their own health insurance, AAPS notes, they have less disposable income for the care they prefer. Instead, their money is going to insurers, whose stock prices are soaring to record highs.
The AAPS lawsuit was dismissed by the district court for lack of standing, and this issue was heard today on appeal, AAPS stated.
"As the lame duck Obama Administration increasingly violates the U.S. Constitution to try to force the dysfunctional ObamaCare upon us, it is essential that lawsuits present these issues for resolution in court," said Jane Orient, M.D, Executive Director of AAPS. ""The Speaker of the House should also be vigorously pursuing his litigation in order to stand up for the checks and balances that are so essential to the separation of powers in our Constitution," she added.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943 to preserve private medicine and the patient-physician relationship.