Senators file amicus brief challenging health care reform

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss) are among 43 Senators who have filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a multi-state legal challenge to a federal mandate that individuals must purchase health insurance.

The amicus brief was filed with the Supreme Court Monday in support of a suit filed by 26 states against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)

It is the latest such brief supported by Cochran and Wicker as part of ongoing legal challenges to that law.

In the 37-page amicus brief, the senators assert that Congress exceeded its constitutional authority when it mandated that individuals must purchase health insurance as part of PPACA. The brief argues that upholding the mandate could then allow the government to mandate any commercial activity.

“I did not support the healthcare reform law for a number of reasons, including its costs and mandates. The requirement that individuals must buy health insurance is, in my view, an unwarranted intrusion of the federal government into people’s lives,” Cochran said.