The mandate is only viewed as a mandate if a “penalty” is imposed for noncompliance. If the “penalty” is changed to some sort of “tax,” then there is no mandate because the individual can choose to pay the tax rather than buy insurance.
Romneycare will replace Obamacare by using a tax rather than a penalty.
I’ll bet the focus of their polling groups now is to try to come up with a single payer scheme they can message politically.