The Affordable Care Act Is Constitutional

As this commentary first appeared on www.annals.org,the Supreme Court was hearing arguments in one of the most important social policy cases of the past several decades: the constitutionality of the requirement that indi-viduals obtain minimum health insurance coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The “individual mandate ” is the centerpiece of the ACA, and removing it will dramatically diminish the law’s effec-tiveness. It is also clearly constitutional within the powers of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. We explain why in this essay, drawing on an amicus brief that we and oth-ers filed in the Supreme Court (1). This article reflects our joint view and not necessarily that of the other signatories to that brief. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE At the heart of the ACA is a “three-legged stool ” de