<P> On August 30, 2013, final regulations for the individual mandate were published in the Federal Register (78 FR 53646), with minor corrections published December 26, 2013 (78 FR 78256). </P> <P> By the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate is repealed effective 2019 . </P> <P> The ACA mandate was challenged in federal courts by Republican state Attorneys General . On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the provision as Constitutional . Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the majority opinion in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, which upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by a 5 - 4 vote . The Court ruled that although the "individual mandate" component of the act was not constitutional under the Commerce Clause, it was reasonably construed as a tax and was therefore valid under the Congressional authority to "lay and collect taxes ." </P> <P> There was also disagreement as to whether federal mandates could be constitutional . In 2010, a majority of the 50 states filed litigation contending that the individual mandate was unconstitutional, and newly elected Republican governors campaigned promising to add their states to the list in 2011 . The federal district courts initially split on the constitutionality issue, which ultimately was expected to reach the Supreme Court; also, state legislative actions may at least cause delay . The Militia Acts of 1792, based on the Constitution's militia clause (in addition to its affirmative authorization to raise an army and a navy), would have required every "free able - bodied white male citizen" between the ages of 18 and 45, with a few occupational exceptions, to "provide himself" a weapon and ammunition; however, it was never enforced so its constitutionality was never litigated . In 1994, the Congressional Budget Office issued a report describing an individual mandate as "an unprecedented form of federal action ." The agency also wrote, "The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States ." </P>

Which constitutional power of congress was used to establish the individual mandate under obamacare