The Supreme Court decided on November 14, 2011 that it will hear several challenges to the health care reform legislation enacted in 2010 (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). Oral arguments are scheduled for March, 2012 and a decision is likely by next summer (just in time for the run-up to the Presidential election).

The Court will review several challenges that have worked their way through the federal appellate courts. The actual case selected for review is State of Florida v. U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services, in which 26 states challenged the constitutionality of the individual insurance mandate, which beginning in 2014 will require individuals who do not have other health insurance (such as through their employers) to purchase individual insurance or pay a penalty. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the individual mandate as unconstitutional, concluding that it violated the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.