Without the mandate, you can't have protections for pre-existing conditions. That still will leave some people without coverage. If you try to answer that by, for instance, having the government pick up those extreme cases, you are basically giving insurance companies free reign to drop unprofitable people and have society pick up the costs. I don't really even see much of a role for insurance companies in either case - all they're doing here is just eating money and sending it to execs for no reason.
And anyway, you're not defunding the mandate, you're defunding subsidies to people who can't afford health insurance.
Where in the bill did they start taxing health benefits?
Please explain why the insurance companies must have everyone join in order to deliver their product. The protections could be required no matter how many customers they have. what you are talking about is making sure the unhealthy get covered at the expense of the healthy who may not want to participate.
To answer your mandate assertion:
No fucking DUH! It's obvious they need to have healthy people join. They don't cost shit!! They are the profit!!
You are an idiot.
Tax implications:
Read the fucking law, you idiot. It's all in there. we posted all this before they ever passed it.