Kennedy said today that leaving parts of the law in place would be worse than striking the entire thing. On that very note, ALL the justices were conflicted on how to possibly rule which parts would be left intact (a near impossible feat if you ask me).
I would agree with Kennedy on that. If insurers are still mandated to accept everyone regardless of preexisting conditions, there is nothing to stop people from having no insurance until the expensive medical condition occurs. The insurers cannot survive in such a system and single payer will then occur very quickly.
If they rule against the mandate (which IMO they will) then they can only rule how the mandates effect the entire bill or the consequences of the ruling. Merely stating they are aware of the consequences may be all that can be stated. Simply that with mandates unconstitutional the bill is an empty shell and needs reworking from scratch would suffice.
IMO some justices take the negative side just to have an opportunity or a combatant author to write the opinion.
When they ruled that the decisions re abortion were states rights to determine what was legal (just as marriage is issue now) They will only determine how the acts in each state relate to the laws of that state.
Do not expect a new direction to be pointed out but a line drawn in the sand for prosperity.