In a decision issued earlier today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued the first appellate decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, often referred to as Healh Care Reform) and held that it was constitutional. Thomas More Law Center v. Obama, No. 10-2388 (6th Cir., June 29, 2011). The three-judge panel issued three separate opinions, totalling 64 pages.
The Opinion of the Court holds that the "minimum coverage provision" — also known as the individual mandate — is constitutional under the Commerce Clause. Its key determination is that "[t]he activity of foregoing health insurance and attempting to cover the cost of health care needs by self-insuring is no less economic than the activity of purchasing an insurance plan." A second judge concurred in the judgment but authored his own explanation as to why the provision was constitutional. The third judge, a district judge from Ohio assigned temporarily to the Court of Appeals, disagreed that the mandate was constitutional.
See the decision at: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/11a0168p-06.pdf