Reagan's Solicitor General on the constitutionality of the mandate.

“I am quite sure that the health care mandate is constitutional…The mandate is a rule—more accurately, part of a system of rules by which commerce is to be governed,” to quote Chief Justice Marshall. And if that weren’t enough for you—though it is enough for me—you go back to Marshall in 1819, in McCulloch v. Maryland, where he said the powers given to the government imply the ordinary means of execution. The government which has the right to do an act—surely, to regulate health insurance—and has imposed on it the duty of performing that act, must, according to the dictates of reason, be allowed to select the means. And that is the Necessary and Proper Clause.”

-Meaning, all the constitutional scholars who cry over the  mandate being unconstitutional and portray it as a black and white issue are further advancing this ongoing phenomenon of  elementary constitutional understanding. This is a complex issue, the Supreme Court in 44’ decided that that Congress has the power to regulate health care under the necessary and proper clause (see http://wallstcheatsheet.com/tag/necessary-and-proper-clause) and saying it does not violate the 5th amendment. If the mandate was renamed as a “tax” this would not be an issue making it a meaningless argument. Argue about the bill itself. The bill is bad, it does little to provide an alternative to what the system currently is while almost assuredly driving up costs. The answer has been and will always be a Public Option that is in direct competition with private insurers and if I’m not mistaken an increase in competition to drive down costs and create incentive would be a free market approach. Do not listen to the bullshit they try to sell about the Public Option driving out private insurance because those are the same people who try to sell you the “the private sector does everything better than a government bureaucracy does.” They can not have it both ways, either the Public Option will be better and more affordable for people thus driving the private insurers out of business or the Public Option will compete with the private insurers to drive down costs and still provide adequate healthcare for those you WANT to enroll in the Public Option but the private sector will still be better in terms of care. I see no problem with either scenario but then again I do not get any money from health insurance companies.