Two hours of arguments for and against the most controversial aspect of President Obama's signature health care reform law — the individual mandate — are being heard today at the U.S. Supreme Court. The law states that citizens currently uninsured must obtain coverage or pay a fine.
Conservatives — including those who have supported the mandate in the past such as the Heritage Foundation and GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich — have fulminated that the provision is un-American and will destroy freedom in this country.
According to a new report issued by the Urban Institute, however, the provision won't affect the majority of Americans, despite all the Sturm und Drang.
This article appears in Mar 22-28, 2012.