A Florida orthodontist has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the decision to delay implementation of the employer mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The conservative group Judicial Watch filed the complaint on behalf of Boca Raton orthodontist Larry Kawa, DDS, claiming that the Obama administration exceeded its statutory authority in ordering the one-year delay without getting approval by Congress, according to a Palm Beach Post story.
In addition, the suit claims that the delay economically harmed his 70-employee Kawa Orthodontics practice.
Because Dr. Kawa expected the mandate would take effect January 1, 2014, the lawsuit states his practice "expended substantial time and resources, including money spent on legal fees and other costs" to prepare for the law. If Kawa Orthodontics had known the mandate would be delayed, the practice "would have spent its time, resources, and money on other priorities," according to the complaint.
Dr. Kawa and Judicial Watch oppose the ACA. But Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said he wants the healthcare law to be implemented quickly because, "to paraphrase Ulysses S. Grant, the best way to ensure the repeal of a bad law is to enforce it vigorously," he is quoted in the article.
