You have seen the headlines, and you may have even expected the result, but did you expect the reasoning? Today the Supreme Court concluded that the individual mandate cannot be justified under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, but that the individual mandate survives merely as a tax law, squarely within Congressional power to levy taxes for the general welfare.
Did you take note of the vote? It was 5 – 4, with Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan each voting to uphold the mandate, and Justices Thomas, Scalia, Alito and Kennedy all seeing the mandate as unconstitutional. The swing vote turned out to be Chief Justice Roberts.
For more information, please read this Health Reform Advisory Alert and stay tuned for a more detailed analysis of the Supreme Court decision, coming up from the Lockton Benefit Group Health Reform Advisory Practice.