The assertion that welfare and social security would be threatened is ridiculous. It’s one thing to take my taxes and dole it out, it’s another to force me to PURCHASE A PRODUCT FROM ANOTHER ENTITY.
One thing that falls under the same premise as the “individual mandate” is government offices and institutions playing the part of “enforcer” for AFSCME and other public employee unions, ie, deducting union dues from your wages so the employee is stripped of any choice in the matter. That practice, much like the individual mandate, forces workers - who pay taxes to support the government - to pay unions dues regardless of whether these people WANT to belong to the union or not. (Of course they are offered the “alternative” of donating that money to a charity of the UNION’S choice.) This is NOT the government’s first foray into forcing people to pay for a product they neither want or need and acting as enforcer. From the viewpoint of many of us, the court is our last and possibly only defense against a government run amok.