Nick Coons v. Jacob Lew

762 F.3d 891
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided September 2, 2014·No. 13-15324·Published·Cited by 20 cases

Opinion

OPINION

GRABER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs Nick Coons and Eric N. No-vack brought a facial constitutional challenge to two provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub.L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010), as amended by Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, Pub.L. No. 111-152, 124 Stat. 1029 (“Affordable Care Act”): the individual mandate, which re *895 quires that individuals maintain a minimum level of health insurance coverage or pay a penalty; and the establishment of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (“IPAB”), a new advisory board charged with issuing budget recommendations for the Medicare program in the event that the program exceeds growth projections. Plaintiffs also sought a declaration that the Arizona Health Care Freedom Act (“Arizona Act”), which amends the Arizona constitution to make it lawful to abstain from purchasing health insurance without paying any penalty, is not preempted by the Affordable Care Act. After the Supreme Court issued National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2566, 183 L.Ed.2d 450 (2012), the district court dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims and entered judgment for Defendants Timothy Geithner, Kathleen Sebelius, Eric Holder, Jr., and Barack Hussein Obama, in their official capacities. Reviewing de novo, Stout v. FreeScore, LLC, 743 F.3d 680, 684 (9th Cir.2014); Demers v. Austin, 746 F.3d 402, 409 (9th Cir.2014), we affirm in part, and in part vacate and remand with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

BACKGROUND

In March 2010, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Affordable Care Act. The Act establishes a comprehensive regulatory system intended to increase the number of Americans covered by medical insurance and to decrease the cost of medical care. Two of its provisions are at issue in this appeal: the provision commonly known as the individual mandate, 26 U.S.C. § 5000A; and the provision establishing IPAB, 42 U.S.C. § 1395kkk.

The individual mandate is codified in Title 26 of the Internal Revenue Code. 26 U.S.C. § 5000A. The mandate requires all “applicable individuals,” id. § 5000A(d), and their dependents to maintain “minimum essential coverage,” id. § 5000A(f), for every month beginning in January 2014, id. § 5000A(a). If an individual fails to meet that requirement and does not qualify for an exemption, id. § 5000A(e), the individual must pay a penalty, termed the “shared responsibility payment,” with his or her annual income tax return, id. § 5000A(b).

IPAB is a new 15-member administrative board that will monitor the growth of Medicare spending and, if actual growth exceeds projected growth, will develop and submit recommendations to reduce the growth rate to the “savings target” set by the Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 42 U.S.C. § 1395kkk. The requirement that IPAB issue recommendations for a given year is triggered only if the Chief Actuary determines that actual growth will exceed projected growth in a particular year. Id. § 1395kkk(b). If the Chief Actuary makes that determination, then IPAB is required to recommend measures to reduce growth that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (“Secretary”) must implement in the absence of an affirmative veto by Congress. 1 Id. If IPAB fails to make the required recommendations for a given year, for lack of membership or otherwise, its duties fall to the Secretary. Id. § 1395kkk(c)(5). Once IPAB completes its recommendations, it must submit them to Congress and the President. Id. § 1395kkk(c)(3). If instead the Secretary completes the recommendations, the Secretary must submit them to the President, *896 who must in turn submit the proposal to Congress within two days. Id. § 1395kkk(e)(4)-(5). The scheme then provides, through congressional rulemaking power, id. § 1395kkk(d)(5), detailed procedures by which Congress must either consider and vote on the recommendations or pass superseding legislation, id. § 1395kkk(d). In the absence of superseding legislation, id. § 1395kkk(e)(3)(A)(i), the Secretary must implement the recommendations as submitted to Congress and the President, id. § 1395kkk(e)(l).

In August of 2010, Coons and Novack, along with two members of Congress, 2 filed an omnibus facial challenge to the Affordable Care Act in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Coons is a citizen of Arizona, is not exempt from the Affordable Care Act, does not have private medical insurance, and does not want to purchase private medical insurance or share his private medical history with third parties. Novack is a citizen of Arizona and a physician who manages a surgery practice that cares for patients, 12.5% of whom receive care funded by Medicare reimbursements. Plaintiffs challenge the individual mandate and the establishment of IPAB on several theories, including claims that those provisions: violate their constitutional rights; exceed Article I legislative power under the Commerce Clause, Necessary and Proper Clause, Spending Clause, and taxation power; and violate Article I’s non-delegation principle. Plaintiffs also seek a declaration that the Arizona Act is not preempted by the Affordable Care Act.

Plaintiffs’ challenge was one of many similar cases filed nationwide. One such case reached the United States Supreme Court. The Court reviewed the individual mandate and two other provisions expanding Medicaid coverage, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1396a(a)(10)(A)(i)(VIII), 1396c, to decide whether the provisions exceeded Article I legislative power under the Commerce Clause, the Spending Clause, or Congress’ taxation power. While the Supreme Court’s decision was pending, Defendants moved to dismiss all of Plaintiffs’ claims, and the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The district court stayed this action pending the Supreme Court’s disposition.

In National Federation of Independent Business, the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate as a proper exercise of Congress’ taxation power, 132 S.Ct. at 2600, but struck, as exceeding Spending Clause power, the portion of the Medicaid expansion provision that withdrew all federal Medicaid funding, including funding provided for programs predating the expansion, from states that refused to adopt the expansion, id. at 2606-07. Following that decision, the district court lifted the stay in Plaintiffs’ case and granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss all claims that challenged the individual mandate for exceeding Article I lawmaking power.

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Nick Coons v. Jacob Lew, 762 F.3d 891 (9th Cir. 2014).

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