The Washington Post editorial board tries to make the case that the individual mandate is Constitutional today, writing (emphasis not in original):
If the individual mandate is such “is an indispensable tool” for achieving “universal coverage” and “lower costs,” then why does Obamacare accomplish neither?
Even after it is fully implemented, an estimated 27 million Americans still will not have health insurance in 2021. Many of these 27 million-still uninsured will have low enough incomes to avoid paying the individual mandate fine, but by 2022 the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the rest of them will pay a total of $54 billion in fines.
And what happens if we remove the mandate? The number of uninsured Americans increases by just under 60 percent, from 27 million to 43 million. So with the mandate about 10 percent of the population will still be uninsured in 2021. Without the mandate that number rises to 15 percent. Granted, fewer people will have health insurance without the mandate than with it, but at no point does Obamacare achieve “universal coverage.”
But what about “lower costs”? Well according to the CBO, Obamacare’s gross cost actually decreases without the mandate. The CBO reported last year:
