The health insurance mandate, passed into law last year, is set to incrementally go into affect over the next couple years, with bits and pieces becoming active in waves. Some of the first pieces of the health insurance mandate have already become active, such as bans on kicking people off their coverage when they develop an illness and letting people in their twenties stay on their parents coverage longer. But even as the bill slowly comes into affect, there are many foreseeable ways in which the bill might be struck down. Here are three ways that mandate challenges might defeat the health insurance mandate.

The first way is if the bill is repealed in congress sometime in the next couple years. The bill is scheduled to go into full effect by 2014, but a lot can happen between now and then. If congress repeals the law, then the mandate will never be activated and everything will revert to how things were before the mandate. Given that there has been strong public support both in favor and opposed to the new health care legislation, it seems uncertain if Congress would be successful in reverting the legislation.

A second way the mandate wouldn't be taken into affect is if the mandate is declared unconstitutional by the judicial branch. Many legal scholars seem very confident that the law passes the constitutional test and can be made into law, but others disagree. Some have said that the law is in violation of the constitution and have challenged the mandate in court. It seems increasingly unlikely that that the courts will strike down the law, as the constitutional challenges are ill formed. While the constitution doesn't address health care, as many opponents to the mandate point out, but Congress is allowed to legislate for the common good.

The third way mandate challenges might defeat the bill is if it proves ineffective. The real test for the health insurance mandate will be in 2014 when the full extent of the bill goes into effect. If the law proves to be challenging, difficult to implement or if the people decide that the law is more trouble than its worth, the mandate might be defeated. This puts pressure on the government agencies that will supervise the mandate to make sure that they get it right in 2014.

The health insurance mandate is certainly a divisive issue in this country. Given that there are multiple ways that the bill could be defeated, supporters of the mandate are trying to prove its value more than ever. Time will tell if the mandate goes into full swing, or if the bill falls by the wayside.