The United States Supreme Court has upheld the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s  individual mandate not because it is as an exercise of Congressional power under the Commerce Clause, but because the mandate is within Congress’s power to lay and collect taxes.

On Medicaid expansion, the Court ruled that the Act violates the Constitution by threatening states with the loss of existing Medicaid funding if they decline to comply with the expansion. Essentially, Medicaid expansion under the PPACA is now optional for the states.

The decision can be read at http://op.bna.com/der.nsf/r?Open=palo-8vpk88.