A federal appeals court recently ruled that Congress does not have the authority to require individuals to purchase health insurance, which essentially throws out a key provision of the health care reform law.

The three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled 2-1 that the individual mandate is unconstitutional.

“The individual mandate exceeds Congress’ enumerated commerce power and is unconstitutional,” wrote Judge Joel Dubina. “This economic mandate represents a wholly novel and potentially unbounded assertion of congressional authority: the ability to compel Americans to purchase an expensive health insurance product they have elected not to buy, and to make them re-purchase that insurance product every month for their entire lives.”

Judge Frank Hull, an appointee of former Democratic President Bill Clinton, backed Judge Dubina, an appointee of former Republican President George W.H. Bush. Judge Stanley Marcus, also a Clinton appointee, said Congress does have the authority to require individuals to obtain insurance.

“Congress rationally found that the individual mandate would address the powerful economic problems associated with cost shifting from the uninsured to the insured and to health care providers, and with the inability of millions of uninsured individuals to obtain health insurance,” Judge Marcus wrote. “Thus, to the extent the plaintiffs’ individual liberty concerns are rooted in the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, they must fail.”

The lawsuit was originally filed in Florida by 26 states, where a federal judge ruled against the individual mandate and struck down the law in its entirety.

The 11th Circuit ruling conflicts with a Cincinnati appeals court ruling that found the coverage requirement to be within the authority of Congress. An additional federal appeals court in Richmond is also deciding on the same issue.