Maybe I don't know as much as I should, but if the Court strikes down the individual mandate and leaves the rest of the law intact, isn't Obama still a huge winner?
The immediate effect would be that there would be a class of people who would be uninsured. The law, I guess, would now potentially run at a deficit without these people being forced to pay a penalty or buy insurance. But in 2014, tens of millions would still get coverage under the medicaid expansion and others through subsidies. The employer mandate would still be intact. Anytime after 2014, people won't want to lose their coverage. The protections and other benefits are still in place. So the only way, it seems to me, to defeat the law is to declare the whole law a non starter. Otherwise, the biggest problems are simply for the insurance companies which lost the mandate. So if the law survives, but the mandate is struck down, the fight is going to be about how to pay for ObamaCare not whether to repeal it. Again, these are just my thoughts. I am happy to be educated.