Construing the Commerce Clause to permit Congress to regulate individuals precisely because they are doing nothing would open a new and potentially vast domain to congressional authority.

FORBES: When Is A Penalty A Tax? Sorting Through The SCOTUS Health Care Decision.

The participants have taken risks in the process but precisely because the risk of doing nothing was considered greater: another indication that this has been indeed one of those rare circumstances where intervention is called for.

ECONOMIST: Interventionist