Why Is Health Care Reform Unconstitutional? 
At issue was whether the government had the power to mandate individual citizens to purchase healthcare coverage and was this a proper exercise of Congress ' Commerce Clause authority . Some lower courts did rule that parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional -LRB- see ruling by Judge Henry Hudson on 12/13/10 in Virginia ; US District Judge Robert Vinson in Pensacola , Florida on 1/31/11 ; the 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals in Atlanta also ruled against the `` individual mandate '' section on 8/12/11 -RRB- . Other courts ruled the Affordable Care Act was constitutional -LRB- see Judge George Steeh in US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on 10/7/10 ; 6th Circuit Court ruling in Cincinnati , Ohio on 6/30/11 -RRB- The strategic framing of the argument seemed to be critical in each case . As court cases go , the US Supreme Court gets the final word . On June 28 , 2012 , the US Supreme Court ruled by a 5-4 margin , that the `` individual mandate '' was a tax that Congress could impose on Americans . That ruling turned back a claim that challenged the provision 's constitutionally for allegedly violating the Commerce Clause . 