“No, they didn’t forget — they knew that things like the individual mandate are necessary or the whole structure falls like a house of cards.”
No, I think they just blew it. Of course we all know the bill doesn’t work without the IM, but they could have easily included severability to protect the rest of the monstrosity.
You must realize that the rest of the monstrosity can’t work without the individual mandate, and the extra money coming in from the young and the illegals by coercion. That’s why they didn’t put it in.