I'm going to post a bit of a civics lesson, because I don't feel like arguing. Pretty much the first statement you'll find in any driver's education book is that "Driving is a privilege, not a right." In order to gain the privilege to drive a car in a state, you must insure others from the damage you might cause them. Hopefully you can understand why auto insurance is different than health insurance negotiated group plans. Also, a principal of Federalism is that states are allowed to legislate as they see fit; the point being if you don't like a state's law, you should move to another one. You can't do that with a country. If you don't like being American, tough shit. You can't just say, screw you guys, I'm going to be French now. Other countries aren't that nice. Federalism also means that the government can do only what's listed in the Constitution, no more. Their powers are enumerated and finite. What the Obama administration argued was that the individual mandate was not a tax, and that the commerce clause allowed them to mandate that people buy health insurance or pay a fine. What the Supreme Court ruled was that the commerce clause did not allow the government to force citizens into purchasing healthcare. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that the health care law is a tax, and that the government is allowed to tax its citizens. The surprise vote in all this was Chief Justice Roberts, who voted in favor of letting Obamacare stand. I believe he did this so that he could write the majority opinion, which changed the meaning of the law. It also prevented the liberals from writing a dissent and creating precedent for future courts. I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say this is bad news for Obama. Nothing lights a fire under a tea-partier's ass like knowing the only way to repeal Obamacare is by voting out the progressives and liberals in congress, and voting out Obama. Also, something like 58% of all Americans want Obamacare to be thrown out completely, this put another millstone around Obama's neck. It also makes him a liar-liar pants on fire for his campaign promises in 2008 and later touting his plan (I will not have an individual mandate, reduce costs of healthcare, this is not a tax, this will not raise the deficit, strengthen medicare/aid).