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A comment on Many See I.R.S. Penalties as More Affordable Than Health Insurance. Parent comment

Re:Many See I.R.S. Penalties as More Affordable Than Health ... by humanrebar on Monday January 04, 2016 @10:07PM (#10840797)
> This would be politically disastrous -- "we know the plans are expensive, but it will be even more expensive to not get one!" isn't a great selling point.

IANAL but it's my understanding that the individual mandate only passed Constitutional muster because it was not punitive. If it were a penalty or crime instead of a tax, the legal interpretation might change. Then again, the Supreme Court had been all over the place lately.

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Re:Many See I.R.S. Penalties as More Affordable Than Health ... by nickff on Tuesday January 05, 2016 @12:41AM (#10841460)
It passed constitutional muster because the Supreme Court (specifically the Chief Justice) is unwilling to wade into this particular political morass. This was not the first decision which has been made by post-hoc rationalization because of magnitude, political significance, side effects, and judges' policy preferences, but it is one of the most notable.
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