UPDATE: The Chief Justice’s denying our request Monday for what essentially was a preliminary injunction has no negative effect on our ability to pursue the merits. Oral argument before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, in AAPS v. Sebelius, is this Friday, January 10, and we are focused on that.
Obviously, we wish that we had gotten the preliminary injunction, and we felt that we owed it to the Medicare-eligible patients of the plaintiffs’ members to try, no matter how long the odds for an appellate injunction like this.
It is unfortunate that the Administration has decided to deny Medicare patients the ability to get Medicare-covered services like x-rays, bloodwork, and oxygen from Medicare providers of those services simply because the patient has decided to go outside the Medicare system to find a treating physician. In many cases, patients have no other realistic choice due to the unavailability of physicians. The Administration’s decision unnecessarily forces those patients to choose between paying more out-of-pocket costs or losing the physicians of their choice, and we are confident that the D.C. Circuit will reverse the Administration’s decision when faced with that issue on the merits.
This Friday afternoon AAPS filed an emergency application to Chief Justice Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court for him to consider the unconstitutionality of ObamaCare under the Origination Clause.
We also ask him to grant an emergency stay to prevent implementation of PECOS requirements — purportedly authorized by ObamaCare — that would limit the ability of independent non-Medicare physicians to treat their Medicare-eligible patients.
Chief Justice Roberts was the pivotal "swing" vote that upheld ObamaCare as a tax in June 2012, in a 5-4 decision. Now, as the Circuit Justice with authority over the D.C. Circuit, he has an opportunity to revisit its unconstitutionality based on AAPS's emergency application, and could find that Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution requires that revenue-raising bills must originate in the House, not in the Senate as ObamaCare did.
Within days, the Chief Justice will read our application and could issue an order for the Obama Administration to respond to the arguments we make. As public sentiment towards ObamaCare has hit rock bottom, it would be welcome relief to hundreds of millions of Americans if the Supreme Court addressed its unconstitutionality.
Meanwhile, the Obama Administration just responded to our separate lawsuit challenging the legality of Obama's arbitrary changes in ObamaCare, without approval by Congress. The executive branch does not have authority to legislate, yet that is what the Obama Administration has been doing.
We're not slowing down. This upcoming Friday, on January 10th, we also argue the constitutionality of ObamaCare before a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit.
Stay tuned. With your support, 2014 is going to be a very exciting year.
Hope to see you at our conference in Louisville at the end of this month, when we will discuss the latest developments!
View PDF file of Emergency Application, No. 13A699, U.S.:
http://aapsonline.org/judicial/aaps-v-sebelius-1-3-2014.pdf
View PDF file of Appendix to Emergency Application:
http://www.aapsonline.org/judicial/aaps-v-sebelius-1-3-2014-appendix.pdf
