The main attraction in the upcoming Supreme Court case regarding President Obama’s health care law is the question of whether the mandate to purchase health insurance is a legitimate exercise of the federal government’s power to regulate interstate commerce. Indeed, from a broad constitutional perspective, the answer to that question will determine whether we have a federal government of limited, defined powers or a de facto plenary power limited only by specifically protected rights.

But another question of lesser constitutional significance could be even more important with respect to health care itself: the question of whether the individual mandate can be severed from the rest of the law, leaving everything else intact. If the Supreme Court decides to sever the mandate, the remaining regulations would, in short order, obliterate private health insurance in this country, perhaps paving the way for a completely government-controlled single-payer system.

Many observers discount the risk of the court striking down just the mandate, but that’s precisely what the circuit court did in the case pending before the Supreme Court.

Read the full article at the Washington Times!