Again from Slate, two unexpected twists have emerged in the health care argument before the court.
First, if the court rules that the ACA's individual mandate is unconstitutional, then this might mean that any effort to privatize Social Security or Medicare is unconstitutional as well.
Second, the major issue seems not to be the commerce clause question raised by the individual mandate, but a question raised by the Medicaid expansion also within the bill. Do federal mandates violate the Spending Clause of the Constitution? If so, this severely limits the ability of the national government to impose national standards at all.
