The individual mandate is a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (and some state laws) that requires individuals to have health insurance. Disputes over whether the mandate was constitutional was the basis for lawsuits that opponents filed. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the mandate in 2012, but it was repealed as part of the 2017 tax law effective in 2019. Technically the mandate is still part of the ACA, but since the penalty is no longer valid, the mandate is meaningless.
