Final Obama Health Law Ruling Could be Delayed for Years
![President Barack Obama](https://d.medicaldaily.com/en/full/221360/president-barack-obama.jpg?w=500&f=bcc1f6d3435f60133080c53ecbfe267f)
A final ruling on the 2010 health law championed by President Barack Obama requiring individuals to buy health insurance could be delayed for several years after a court threw out two challenges ruled on Thursday.
No one may currently be able to challenge the law, which takes effect in 2014, because no one has yet refused to pay a related a fine for not buying health insurance or has sought a refund, a former U.S. solicitor said. On Thursday a federal appeals court said it did not have standing to rule in a lawsuit brought forward by the state of Virginia last year.
“It’s still the case that we will get some decision from the United States Supreme Court the last week of this coming June,” said Walter Dellinger, a former U.S. solicitor general who filed a brief backing the law on behalf of Congressional Democrats, according to Bloomberg. “But it is possible that ruling could be that no one has the right to challenge this law until they’ve decided to pay the penalty or sought a refund.”
With the law taking effect in 2014, a lawsuit at that time would have to wind its way through lower courts before making it to the Supreme Court sometime later.