From the Volokh Conspiracy: "It thus is evident that these early federal statutes do not support the constitutionality of congressionally mandated healthcare..."

http://volokh.com/2012/04/19/phillip-hamburger-on-the-maritime-acts/

Phillip Hamburger on the Maritime Acts

Randy Barnett • April 19, 2012 8:46 am

"Columbia law professor and legal historian Philip Hamburger passes along the following comment on Einer Elhauge’s use of early maritime acts as historical precedent for the individual insurance mandate:"

...
"It thus is evident that these early federal statutes do not support the constitutionality of congressionally mandated healthcare, whether an employer mandate or an individual mandate.  On the contrary, the early federal mandates to provide healthcare or to purchase health insurance arose under the government’s power to provide for the navy.  This was a military power, and the statutes adopted under it are not precedents for a power to regulate civilians under the Commerce Clause."