At the center of the controversy is the bill's inclusion of a federal mandate requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance or face penalties. Opponents say this measure stretches Congress?s constitutional power to ?regulate commerce ? among the several states? beyond any meaningful limits on federal authority. They say Congress is authorized to regulate behavior to protect public safety or welfare, but federal lawmakers overstep the constitutional limits of their power when they begin ordering Americans to purchase certain products.
?With this law, the federal government will force citizens to buy health insurance, claiming it has the authority to do so because of its power to regulate interstate commerce,? Cuccinelli said. ?We contend that if a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person ? by definition ? is not engaging in commerce, and therefore, is not subject to a federal mandate.?
The Virginia attorney general added: ?Just being alive is not interstate commerce. If it were, there would be no limit to the US Constitution?s commerce clause and to Congress?s authority to regulate everything we do.?
In addition to challenging the individual mandate to buy health insurance, opponents had threatened to sue to block favorable concessions to the states of Nebraska and Louisiana that were designed to entice senators from those states to vote in favor of the healthcare bill.
