Reuters REPORTS HERE "twenty-six states challenging President Barack Obama's sweeping healthcare overhaul filed a U.S. Supreme Court brief on Tuesday arguing the law unconstitutionally expands the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled. By threatening a loss of federal funds, Congress unconstitutionally coerced states into expanding their Medicaid programs, the states led by Florida argued. They said states have no real alternative but to keep participating in Medicaid."

"Forcing states to vastly expand their Medicaid programs or risk losing all funding is an abuse of federal authority," Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, calling it an "overreach of government power."

"The Obama administration brief on the Medicaid issue is due by February 10. Administration attorneys previously have rejected any suggestion the Medicaid provision was unconstitutional. A federal judge and an appeals court ruled against the states."

"The Obama administration filed its main brief in the legal battle on Friday and said Congress was within its constitutional powers in requiring Americans to buy insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty. Known as the individual mandate, it is the centerpiece of the health care law."

"The 26 states and an independent business group challenging the law both argued in their submissions to the court on Friday that the entire law must fall if the mandate is struck down."

"The Supreme Court has scheduled three days of oral arguments in the legal battle for March 26-28, with an election-year ruling expected by the end of June."

Medpagetoday.com REPORTS HERE that "the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion is "coercive" and "transforms the basic nature" of the insurance program for the poor, according to a brief filed with the Supreme Court by 26 states. Requiring states to lower the eligibility requirements for Medicaid and to ensure that all Medicaid plans meet certain minimum requirements is an overreach of the federal government's power, the states argued in the brief."

"The brief was filed by all the states that are a party to a lawsuit originally filed in Florida. That is the case that the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on in March."

"This brief is the first filed with the Supreme Court that challenges the Medicaid provisions of the law. Other briefs have focused on the more high-profile piece of the law -- the individual mandate, which requires everyone to have health insurance starting in 2014."

"The states argue that the ACA's Medicaid provisions transform a "cooperative program" for the most needy into a "mandatory program designed to fulfill the individual mandate" for anyone who is not elderly and has an income below 133% of the poverty level."

"The ACA's is not the first congressional action to increase eligibility standards for Medicaid. But in the past, the expansions were aimed at certain "categorically needy" people, the states argued."

"Congress has never required mandatory coverage criteria for childless adults who are not within the covered categories (which have included low-income people with dependent children, the elderly, the blind, the disabled, children, and pregnant women), the states said."

"The federal government will initially fund 100% of the cost of the Medicaid expansion. But by 2017, states will be responsible for 5% of the cost, and by the 2020, they will have to pay 10%."

"The ACA also creates a new "minimum essential coverage" that state Medicaid plans must adhere to in order to be in line with the law's requirement that all insurance plans meet a basic minimum level of coverage."

"That new and onerous requirement eliminates the flexibility States previously enjoyed to determine what level of coverage they could afford to offer to the diverse groups of individuals they chose to cover," the states argued.

"As a result of enrolling an estimated 16 million new people in Medicaid by the end of the decade, states' hospitals and doctors may not be able to keep up with the demand of providing care, the states argued."

"If state's don't adhere to the ACA's Medicaid provisions, they risk losing all federal assistance for Medicaid."

"The Obama administration has argued that Medicaid will still be a voluntary program, but the states say that isn't true because there is no alternative mechanism other than Medicaid to insure the neediest of people."

Medpagetoday.com REPORTS HERE that "a group of 13 state attorneys general filed a brief Friday in support of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), arguing that the federal government has the right to require everyone to buy health insurance. The attorneys general specifically focused their brief on one question the Supreme Court will answer when it rules on the ACA later this year: Does Congress have the power under the Constitution to require that everyone have health insurance or else pay a penalty?"

"The individual mandate provision of the ACA requires that everyone have health insurance starting in 2014."

"The 13 attorneys general -- all of whom are Democrats -- argue that the mandate is constitutional under the Commerce Clause, which allows Congress to regulate economic activity. Some experts have argued that the mandate is an overreach because it attempts to also regulate economic inactivity, to the extent that it will penalize people who choose not to buy insurance."

"But the attorneys general who filed Friday's brief agree with the Obama administration's argument: Even if someone chooses not to buy insurance, they will still have to use the healthcare system at some point. And when someone who doesn't buy insurance gets sick and can't pay for care, the cost of their care is passed on to insured patients, thus affecting economic activity."

"Opponents say the individual mandate is a major infringement on the freedom of Americans to buy what they choose."

"However, the states that support the law have a different interpretation and wrote in their brief that the opposing states' view "does not derive from any principled understanding of federalism."

"The states wrote in their brief: "In invoking federalism limitations as the basis for their challenge to the Affordable Care Act, the respondents fail to appreciate that the federal commerce power exists precisely to allow Congress to address problems -- like those that plague the nation's healthcare system -- that do not respect state boundaries and that the states cannot fully and effectively address on their own."

"The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case in March; it was originally filed in Florida by 26 states opposing the healthcare law. In the meantime, supporters and opponents will continue to file briefs on various aspects of the case."