Getting past healthcare's individual mandate

Speculation about the likely death of "Obamacare" has raged ever since the Supreme Court heard three intense days of legal arguments in March. The pundits have crowed about how the individual mandate is the Achilles' heel of President Obama's healthcare law. Indeed, anyone watching TV or reading newspapers could easily believe that healthcare reform revolves entirely around the individual mandate, which would require Americans to buy health insurance if they are not covered at work or by Medicare or Medicaid. Enemies of reform have demonized the mandate to scare the public, and they are urging the Supreme Court to use this provision to rule the law unconstitutional.