personal mandate meaning
This mandate requires individuals not covered by employer or government-sponsored insurance plans to maintain minimal essential health insurance coverage or pay a penalty unless exempted for religious beliefs or financial hardship. This is the very definition of an individual mandate, as certain people are being forced to maintain minimal essential health insurance coverage or else pay a penalty. The issue of the constitutionality of the individual mandate went all the way to the Supreme Court. Was the individual mandate constitutional? The Supreme Court ruled that the mandate was a tax and therefore fell under Congress' taxing authority.