Appeals court won’t reconsider ‘Obamacare’ decision

NEW ORLEANS – A federal appeals court in New Orleans has refused to reconsider its ruling striking down a key part of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

The brief ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was dated Wednesday.

A divided three-judge panel ruled in December that the law’s requirement that people buy insurance was rendered unconstitutional when Congress set the tax on those who don’t buy insurance at zero. And it told a lower court judge to review whether other parts of the law, such as protections for those with pre-existing conditions, must also fall.

Wednesday’s ruling says one 5th Circuit judge asked for a rehearing by the full court. But the judges voted 8-6 against a rehearing.

Defenders of the law have asked the Supreme Court to hear the case.