Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 is constitutional. The decision came down in the cases entitled, National Federation of Independent Business et al. v. Sebelius, No. 11-393 (June 28, 2012), Department of Health and Human Services et al. v. Florida et al., No. 11-398, and Florida et al. v. Department of Health and Human Services et al., No. 11-400). There, the 5 to 4 majority decided that the law is constitutional as an exercise of Congress’ power to tax, despite the congressional record stating it is not a tax. In California, where statutes that say “penalty” are later determined by courts to be “wages” these types of word games come as no surprise.
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