I think there is an interesting conflict in play in the Supreme Court that will determine the final outcome: The so-called "conservative justices" are not really so much conservatives, as they are whatever the real rulers of the Republican Party need them to be at the moment. For example, "state's rights" is a big conservative value, but whenever a state wants to do something that conflicts with a Republican Party issue, those justices suddenly side against the state. In just about every such case, they take the Republican side when it conflicts with the conservative side!
The Individual Mandate is quite dear to the insurance industry. So even though it is being portrayed by the Republican Party as unconstitutional, I believe that is just propaganda for the rubes. Does the Republican Party care about Individual Liberty, or do they care about the insurance industry's bottom line? They keep talking about Freedom and Individual Liberty but then they consistently line up to kiss Big Business's behind.
I think Justice Kennedy gave away the show when he remarked about how overturning the Individual Mandate would leave the insurance industry stuck with an economic model that would destroy them. I think he, at least, would not vote for keeping the popular ACA provisions like "accept everyone even with pre-existing conditions" without the mandate. That leaves him with all or none: Uphold ACA intact, or overturn it completely which leaves the insurance industry vulnerable to a new single-payer plan that ends their existence.
Where do you see support for a single payer system? My guess is that Congress won't touch this issue again for another 25 years. They just aren't that brave.
