Ruling may spur foes to challenge MA health law

A Supreme Court ruling against President Obama's landmark healthcare law could prompt challenges to the Massachusetts law that inspired it, according to legal specialists and activists following the case. The legal case against the federal Affordable Care Act pivots on the constitutionality of its requirement that nearly every American obtain health insurance. Massachusetts was the first state to introduce such an individual mandate when lawmakers passed Governor Mitt Romney's health care plan in 2006. The tenor and aggressiveness of the justices' questions during three days of oral arguments on the federal law have caused some legal analysts to predict the court could strike down the individual mandate—if not the entire law.