"...individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance — just as most states require you to carry auto insurance."
  - President Barack Obama, 9/9/2009

The above analogy does not hold. Most states' compulsory insurance statutes force drivers to obtain insurance as a condition of registering their vehicles and being able to drive.[1] That is, in order to receive a benefit from the state (e.g. be a legal driver), one must transact with a private entity (e.g. buy private insurance). If one does not wish to transact with a private entity, one still has the option of (a) not driving, or (b) self-insuring with a surety bond or other negotiable security.[2] Requiring that individuals carry basic health insurance without any additional reforms sets up a situation in which one must transact with a private entity simply because one exists. This is a very dangerous precedent. In fact, it is tantamount to, and as ridiculous as, mandating that all citizens must legally buy something as frivolous as a MP3 player.

Fortunately, Amendment XIII of the United States Constitution protects individuals from being forced into "involuntary servitude" by the U.S. government or private entities.[3] Here, the term "involuntary servitude" is defined by two essential elements:
 
1.) involuntariness (i.e. being forced to transact with a private insurer for health insurance), and;
2.) servitude (i.e. having your labor pay profits/dividends to the owners of the private insurer).

It should be noted that the term "involuntary servitude" does not apply to "duties which individuals owe to the state, such as services in the army, militia, on the jury, etc."[4] This sets up a clear dichotomy; if we now owe the state a duty of maintaining health insurance, the state must be in the insurance business. That is, there must be a public option. If we don't owe the state said duty, then the status quo must hold and there can be no mandate to buy private insurance. There are no other legal options for Congress to consider.

[1] http://public.findlaw.com/abaflg/flg-11-5b-3.html
[2] http://dor.mo.gov/mvdl/drivers/dlguide/chapter13.pdf
[3] http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiii.html
[4] http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=240&inv...