With the Supreme Court expected to make a ruling on the constitutionality of the healthcare reform law next July, Democrats are starting to wonder if maybe they went a little too far:

Democrats on Capitol Hill are worried that the Supreme Court will rule against President Obama’s healthcare reform law.

Over the last couple weeks, congressional Democrats have told The Hill that the law faces danger in the hands of the Supreme Court, which The New York Times editorial page recently labeled the most conservative high court since the 1950s.

While the lawmakers are not second-guessing the administration’s legal strategy, some are clearly bracing for defeat.

“Of course I’m concerned,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). The justices “decide for insurance companies, they decide for oil companies, they decide for the wealthy too often.”

The pessimism is fueled in part by the John Roberts court’s decision in the 2010 Citizens United case on corporate spending in elections, which Brown has called the “worst” in his memory.

This is one issue I greatly disagree with the left on. Upholding the mandate would be a vote for the insurance companies. Other parts of the law are good, but the mandate has always been a big problem with me.

When the legality of the mandate comes up in debate proponents always use the “look at car insurance” claim. While the law does and can require you to have car insurance to operate a motor vehicle, there is one big oversight in this issue – driving is a privilege. Courts have ruled that for decades and if you don’t want to pay for auto insurance then fine, don’t drive. Living on the other hand is a right. This law basically says “get insurance or don’t live”. Yeah I’m exaggerating a little there, but in essence that is what it comes down to and last I checked suicide was illegal. The fact is that with auto insurance you do have a way out, the same can’t be said for health insurance.

I am expecting to see the Supreme Court rule against the law. It would be nice if they just stripped the mandate out, but I got a feeling the entire law will go down. That is a sad thing there as the insurance companies will be able to continue their practice of dropping patients, charging excess and denying coverage. On top of all that we probably won’t have a chance to address the serious issue of healthcare again in our lifetime and the rising costs of healthcare here is a big reason why a lot of companies don’t want to be part of the U.S.

We don’t know where this will go, but we will find out next summer, which will be right in time for the real debate season.