Health reform back in the legal spotlight

While some Republican leaders soften their anti-reform stance, a Christian college continues to blast the Affordable Care Act for allegedly violating its religious freedoms.

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday with accordance from the Obama administration, revived Liberty University's legal challenge to the health reform law, The Hill's Healthwatch reported.

That's because the high court's landmark decision in June allows lower courts to pass judgment on challenges to the individual mandate.

Even though the Supreme Court already upheld the reform law as constitutional, the Lynchburg, Va., university requested a new hearing, saying it's challenging it on different grounds--the mandate that employers provide insurance coverage and the contraceptive coverage requirement, FierceHealthPayer previously reported.

With the Supreme Court's decision on Monday, only the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must now reconsider cases it previously declined to rule on, reported the Associated Press.

But since the decision is "purely procedural," it doesn't imply that the court justices believe Liberty's arguments are likely to win, according to Healthwatch.

Regardless, Liberty's lawsuit joins dozens of other health reform challenges moving through the federal court system, the AP noted.

For more:
- read the Healthwatch article
- check out the AP article