Did Congress exceed its enumerated powers and violate principles of federalism when it pressured States into accepting conditions that Congress could not impose directly by threatening to withhold all federal funding under Medicaid, the single largest grant-in-aid program?

Reviewing the information present on the case National Federation of Independent Business vs. Sebelius, and the decisions that were made by first the District Court of Florida and then the U. S Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, around 2010, the response to your question: Did Congress exceed its enumerated powers and violate principles of federalism when it pressured States into accepting conditions that Congress could not impose directly by threatening to withhold all federal funding under Medicaid, the single largest grant-in-aid program, would be: Yes, Congress overstepped its boundaries, as stipulated by the Commerce Clause, and the enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8 of the U. S Constitution, when in its Affordable Care Act of 2010, the law stipulated the fining of individuals who did not maintain a minimum health insurance level, but still used the services of the system.

In the final rulings given by the Court, and with varying views on the part of the different Justices, the decision was made that the individual mandate provision of the Act superseded the powers given to Congress, but upheld that it was within Congress's powers to establish the groundwork for how federal funding was to be distributed to States on the Medicaid program, and also taxing, except in the case of individuals.