Louisiana joins multi-state lawsuit to toss Affordable Care Act

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Louisiana has joined more than a dozen other states in petitioning a federal district court in Texas to declare the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate unconstitutional.

The legal complaint says that that former President Barack Obama’s health care law forces “unconstitutional and irrational rules onto citizens and states,” according to a news release from Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office.

Although congressional lawmakers recently repealed the tax-based penalty on those who don’t have insurance, the individual mandate that requires them to have insurance or pay a penalty remains, the states argue. The complaint states that since the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress can’t impose such a mandate, the ACA is unconstitutional.

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin are also participating in the complaint.

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