Department of Health and Human Services et al. v. Florida et al.

The case Department of Health and Human Services et al. v. Florida et al. was one of three consolidated cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 concerning the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The central issue was the constitutionality of the ACA's "individual mandate," which required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, upheld the individual mandate by reinterpreting it as a tax, a power Congress possesses. However, the Court ruled that the ACA's expansion of Medicaid was unconstitutionally coercive to states, limiting the federal government's ability to withhold existing Medicaid funds from states that did not comply with the expansion. This ruling preserved the core of the ACA, ensuring millions of Americans could maintain their health insurance.1