Well, businesses now have to decide whether or not they continue with plans to provide health insurance to their employees or cancel plans if they have already signed up. The mandate is still there, it is just that without any reporting requirement in place, the government has no way of determining the penalties that apply.
Imagine you are a business owner in a highly competitive industry where payroll overhead costs are one of the major factors in the prices you charge your customers. Do you provide coverage, jacking up your prices, and risk being undercut by competitors who don't provide coverage to their employees?
One of the first things I've wondered is would it be possible for employees to file suit against their employers for not providing health insurance coverage as per the law requires. The initial report from Bloomberg indicated that the law provides flexibility for the government to determine when to start enforcing provisions in section 1513. A quick skimming of the section though indicates it goes into effect for all months after Dec. 31, 2013. I couldn't find any such flexibility. By law the mandate remains--can employers be held liable for not complying with it even though the government is not enforcing penalties? This needs to be clarified.
At the individual level: employees up until now may have been able to assume that their employer would provide coverage. Now that is up in the air, and many people who don't have coverage and might have been planning on signing up for coverage through their employer have to assume that they will either not get insurance and have to pay a penalty, or they will have to sign up for coverage through an exchange. For the later option, will they get a subsidy to help pay for coverage? No one can tell a this point.