A case challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been heard by a three-judge panel from 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The case, Hotze v. Burwell, is one of many cases testing various provisions of the health reform law. This case specifically takes issue with where the PPACA originated. The plaintiffs in the case argue the PPACA is a revenue-raising law and therefore should have originated in the House instead of the Senate. Since the law began in the Senate, the plaintiffs argue the PPACA is unconstitutional because it violates the origination clause of the Constitution.
However, defendants argue the health reform law did begin in the House in a different form, and the law was transformed by the Senate into the PPACA.
Before making its way to the federal appeals court, the case was dismissed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where a judge held the primary purpose of the PPACA is not to raise taxes.
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