It certainly seemed paradoxical that Medicare, which provides universal government health insurance coverage to older folks and levies a broad tax to pay for it, could be constitutional, while a system of private insurance that requires participation or payment of a fine (ACA) might not be. Why isn't the fine basically the equivalent of a tax to support a system of private provision? And so Justice Roberts decided the matter. Still, if the power to tax trumps the conservative interpretation of the Commerce Clause, what's to prevent the Feds from regulating whatever the hell they want to, by punishing noncompliance with fines and calling them taxes? Why, they could even force you to buy broccoli that way.
I'm glad the decision went the way it did, but I can understand why Scalia might be scratching his head.
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So the mandate is constitutional as a tax. Ah, so I see where your fear rests, anything could be mandated and penalized as a tax. Albeit, it has to pass through the realms of Congress first.
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