Severability…What Severability?

For months we heard that health reform could collapse in one piece if the individual mandate was found to be unconstitutional as Congress—by accident or intent—did not include a severability clause in the final version of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

So what happened? Why isn't anyone focused on severability now?

Well... as you now know, the individual mandate was upheld as a tax rather than under the Commerce Clause so severability became irrelevant for the mandate. Where severability could have been necessary is in the courts ruling of the Medicaid expansion. However, Chief Justice Roberts officially took the issue out of play in the Majority Opinion stating that due to the severability clause in the underlying Medicaid law rendered the issue null and void.