I believe the IRS is slated to collect.
If the IRS is involved , it’s a tax.
“If the IRS is involved , it’s a tax.”
If it a tax, it is unconstitutional. It is notbased on income so the Sixteenth Amendment does not permit it. adn it is not a capitation tax permissible under Art. 1, Section 9 since it is NOT UNIFORM AND APPLICABLE TO EVERY CITIZEN. It applies applies only to a subset of individual, that is: those who choose not to get health insurance. And even within that subset, theer are religious exemptions.
It is a penalty and it will stand or fall based upon whether the Courts conclude that it is within Art. 1, Section 8 power to regulate commerce. FYI, the Commerce Clause has never ever been extended to REQUIRE commerce. I don’t think any court would go this far.
Obama Care would have been constitutional (stil bad, but Constitutional) if they had included a public option and dropped the mandate. The Government could have made the public option so attractive and cheap that people would opt for it and the private insurers would be driven out of business. Once they were out of the business, the public option could be constricted and single payer would be the only option.
Trying to do it in the contest of private insurance is just a bridge too far, given the restrictions on Capitation taxes and the traditional limits on the commerce clause.
ObamaCare is unconstitutional. And it is not close.