Supreme Court Upholds Mandate as Tax

WASHINGTON—A divided Supreme Court largely upheld the Obama administration's health-care law, saying the law's penalty for those who ignore a mandate to carry health insurance counted as a tax and was justified by Congress's constitutional taxing power. The court did find one part of the law unconstitutional, saying its expansion of the federal-state Medicaid program threatened states' existing funding. The court ruled that the federal government can't put sanctions on states' existing Medicaid funding if the states decline to go along with the Medicaid expansion. WASHINGTON—A divided Supreme Court largely upheld the Obama administration's health-care law, saying the law's penalty for those who ignore a mandate to carry health insurance counted as a tax and was justified by Congress's constitutional taxing power. The court did find one part of the law unconstitutional, saying its expansion of the federal-state Medicaid program threatened states' existing funding. The court ruled that the federal government can't put sanctions on states' existing Medicaid funding if the states decline to go along with the Medicaid expansion.
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        Obama: Mandate is Not a Tax