Experts ponder 'Plan B' options for the health insurance mandate

With Republicans vowing to dismantle the health law and courts wrestling with its constitutionality, some health policy experts are pondering a possible "Plan B" in case the individual mandate -- the requirement that everyone get health insurance starting in 2014 -- is weakened or struck down.

One idea is to raise everyone's taxes -- and then give big tax breaks back to people who get insurance. Other proposals include creating strict open-enrollment periods so that people can't game the system, or an opt-out mechanism carrying stiff consequences for people who decline to get covered.