Judge allows healthcare reform lawsuit to go forward

HATTIESBURG — A federal judge will allow a lawsuit filed in Mississippi challenging part of the Obama administration’s healthcare law to continue.

U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett, in a ruling issued Aug. 29, denied the Obama administration’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Starrett dismissed some claims by the plaintiffs but refused to dismiss the medical privacy claim.

The lawsuit — originally filed in April 2010 — argues the health care reform law’s requirement that every American buy health insurance would injure them.

The law provides tax penalties starting in 2014 for those who don’t have medical insurance.

The plaintiffs also claim the law’s passage oversteps congressional boundaries.

The plaintiffs include Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and 10 others.

Starrett’s decision was first reported by the Hattiesburg American.