Obama’s insurance requirement not the only mandate
The individual insurance requirement that the Supreme Court is reviewing isn’t the first federal mandate involving health care….
…One mandate affects just about everybody: Workers must pay a tax to finance Medicare, which collects about $200 billion a year.
It’s right on your W-2 form, line 6, “Medicare tax withheld.” Workers must pay it even if they don’t have health insurance. Employees of a company get to split the tax with their employer. The self-employed owe the full amount, 2.9 percent of earnings.