I hope I’m wrong.

It will all come down as a public safety issue or something along the lines of the common good.Under that the govt. can do practically anything.
I’m not an attorney and that is obvious from my generalizations to support my theory but I believe SCOTUS will uphold Obamacare. One of the main arguments as I have read is does the govt. under the Commerce Clause have the authority to compel you to buy insurance merely as a condition of being a citizen or merely for breathing…?

In my opinion that argument would fail if used to argue against Obamacare because that is not really the issue in my humble layman opinion.
The Commerce Clause gives the govt. broad powers to regulate commerce, all kinds of commerce.
Health care is commerce.

“But NeoKong… what if I choose not to participate in the health care industry. How can they force me to do so or penalize me if I don’t….?”

That’s where they get you.
It can be reasonably assumed as an almost certainty that sooner or later that each and everyone us will in fact participate in the health care system.
There is no way out of it.
Who has never been in a hospital, a doctor’s office or ever examined by a health care professional ?
Is it actually possible to go your whole life and not participate sooner or later?
Not unless you were born in a cab or a barn and died before you ever saw a doctor. While I am sure that has probably occurred in the old days it is quite impossible today.
Like it or not everyone will receive medical attention whether we want to or not.
Then my friend you have just participated in the health care industry and Congress regulates how people participate in industry all the time.

The examples are so numerous that is merely a small extra step to regulate the delivery and purchase of health care very much the same way as driving a car for example.
If you want to participate as a driver you are compelled to buy insurance are you not?
If you want to put a small child in that car you are compelled to buy a car seat …correct…?
While I suppose you do not actually have to buy a car seat but merely use one somebody else purchased. You cannot just make one out of wood.
The govt. can compel you to use certain fuel blends, carry minimum amounts of insurance and require you to spend all sorts of monies to be in compliance with safety regulations.
You can always argue that only applies to people who actually drive and not to people who do not and that is true but if ever want to travel in a vehicle in any way then the govt. can tell you what to do. Seat belt and cell phone laws are a few examples. Public safety man.
You can go your whole life and never drive a car but is is highly unlikely that you will go your whole life and not participate in the health care system.
It is only a matter of time.
If they didn’t get you when you were born they will get you in the nursing home. Then if they can they will seize all your assets.
The odds that somebody could possibly avoid seeing a doctor are astronomical.

“But NeoKong, what if I decide not to have insurance and always pay in cash…?”

That participation thing comes up again.There are plenty of situations where we are told just how we can pay for something. Sometimes only a credit card is allowed or a cashiers check as with an airline ticket or the purchase of property. Can insurance be considered a form of payment as well and subject to regulation? That does not seem to extreme considering how similar things are regulated. At some Dept. of Motor Vehicles they do not accept cash.

You may think it outrageous that the govt. can compel you to buy something you do not want but it is already happening in Massachusetts with Romneycare. (Thanks Mitt)
All the other side has to do is point to that, say it is the exact same thing and it occurs without all the Constitutional drama that people bemoan.

Want more.
The govt. can make you do much worse and has.
This very same court has ruled that the govt. can compel you to sell your property to a local govt. so that they can in turn give it to a private developer in Kelo vs. New London.
The govt. can and has compelled millions of young men to join the Army against their will and go to foreign lands and kill people.
The United States govt. has pushed millions of Indians off their land and forced them to live on reservations.
The govt. can compel you to have a needle stuck in your arm to have a vaccination.
You are compelled to go to school.
You are compelled to pay Social Security and participate in the govt. pension plan.
They can grope you at will at an airport and if you object they will arrest you or at the very least make you miss your flight.
They even can frisk your little baby.
The POTUS can now even put to death a citizen who has been deemed a terror threat just on his order.

The examples of when, where and how federal, state or local govt. can completely own your butt and make you dance like a little puppet and punish you if you do not are endless.

Is Obamacare really that much of a big leap…?
If you think of how many situations you need permits, permission, licenses, training, certification, inspections, insurance, fees and bluh blah blah the list is endless.
Any good sized construction project cannot be done without proper insurance.
If they catch you without insurance you will regret it.
All they have to do is frame the issue as public safety or something for the common good and there it is.
Obamacare.

If they can make you pay income tax for participating in one form of commerce then they can make you buy insurance for participating in a different form of commerce.

The govt. controls us all the time and it is a rare occurrence to see somebody stand up to that.
They can control what you eat, what you wear, what you can say in certain places, where you can live to some degree. They control how you build your home, what type of light bulbs you can use, how much of your property you can cover and even how you use your property.
They can control how you raise your children.
They can seize your children without a court order. All that is required is a zealous social worker with nothing better to do. It happens all the time. They control how you can treat your dog, your horse and even your goldfish.They can even decide when and where you can pee.

You think you have property rights…? That is an illusion.
There isn’t anywhere in the United States where you can do anything you want with your property without official permission. No lot, no farm, no stream, no ranch or spread or anything. At anytime some local turd city official can come in and shut you down and force you to take them to court at your expense while it costs them nothing.
Some unelected zoning board can strip your valuable buildable lot of all it’s value simply by deeming it non-compliant with a local ordinance.They can hold you up for years simply because your neighbor is somebody’s brother in-law.
Happens all the time.

When compared with some of the things that govt. can compel you to do the idea that they can make you buy health insurance seems tame.
I wish that was the worst they could do to me but on a scale of one to ten…that is a two.

That’s how I see it.