Court date: Area tea party joins opposition to health-care law

Members of the area Tea Party Patriots say they’re still hoping to overturn the federal health-care overhaul. Local activists will be traveling by bus with plans to meet up at the U.S. Supreme Court building.

The court on Monday will begin hearing arguments for and against the health overhaul law. And while some are celebrating the second anniversary of the federal Affordable Care Act this month, others hope that the whole thing will just go away.

Trevose, Pa., resident Robert Boysen says the law is too costly and unconstitutional.

“I’ve been with the movement since it started back in February of 2009. To us it looks like the Constitution is just being shredded,” said Boysen, a coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots of Lower Bucks County. “The entire law, as far as we’re concerned, is unconstitutional. The federal government can’t force anyone to buy anything.”

Among other provisions, the justices will examine whether the health law can mandate that nearly all Americans buy health insurance, or face penalties.

“The government is saying we must purchase health insurance, we have a problem with that,” said Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots. “It’s not constitutionally limited government, and if the government can say that we have to purchase health insurance, what else down the road will they say we must purchase?”

A Philadelphia organizer guesses that about 100 people from the Philadelphia region will join her group on the trip to Washington.