No Excuses

Now You Have To Buy Health Insurance

    Its actually a very smart decision. Chief Justice Roberts held that the Commerce Clause cannot regulate people doing nothing or regulate them into commerce as opposed to regulation of already inter-state commerce. That would be essentially regulating consumers who aren't buying something compelling them to purchase something. But the individual mandate is not dead.  So ignore those false reports saying now the government can make you buy Ikea furniture to support trade with Sweden. Flatly wrong, said the court, about the commerce clause allowing the government to prescribe vegetables to cure weight issues or type II diabetes. No such commerce clause authority.

   The government does have the ability under its taxing authority to require people be penalized by paying an IRS 'Penalty' if they don't have health insurance. That inclines incentivization to purchase health insurance while it cannot compel it under the Commerce clause rationale, and is well within the taxing authority constitutionally to do so.
The gotcha hitch which the conservatives were hoping stymied such an approach was that the Anti-Injunction Act held that basically you can't sue over a tax you don't like unless you have already paid it to create some injury. That is called a 'standing' problem. The Court solved that problem by noting that a 'penalty' is effectively not a tax for Anti-Injuction statutory purposes, while the ability to levy such a penalty is constitutionally permitted under the purview of the Taxing authority. Splitting hairs perhaps, but a distinction with a difference. (and quite clever)

   So Obamacare survives in its entirety.
Now what of all the Cardinal assault in litigation in federal court on behalf of schools and hospitals that have to violate their consciences-

Undoubtably the catholic plaintiffs will argue that their federal tax exempt status should have something to do with excusing them from having to comply with the Act- if the ability to engage in Obamacares mandates are founded exclusively on the taxing authority and not the Commerce Clause then if these plaintiffs are tax-exempt then they may get constitutional exemptions. Perhaps. Very clever indeed.