Hi walleye12,
Yes, I agree that this part, and others like it, should be serviced separately from the entire assembly. Particularly since it is a part that is easily broken during carburetor removal and installation on these engines. It simply boils down to a customer service "after the sale" thing. Where, ultimately, Honda has chosen to put it's profitability in these areas ahead of customer satisfaction and care.
While in days gone past, this would be a totally inexcusable corporate practice. A practice that would have eventually ended up costing a company much more in lost outboard sales due to negative word of mouth advertising than they ever could have saved in not providing the product support.
Sadly though, in today's manufacturing world, this "rude to your customer behavior" has become the standard instead of the exception.
I started my working life as a GM factory trained auto mechanic, defected to Ford and, ultimately became a pretty fair Class 8 truck (18 wheeler) tech before retiring and taking on a fleet of Honda outboards as a sort of "10th career".
When I started out in life, it was General Motor's policy to provide replacement parts for every car and truck in their product line for a mandatory 30 year period. The other manufacturers had similar strategies. If they had not supported their own products in such a way, at that time, I don't think they could have survived.
Today, however, it is not that unusual to find that some parts, including components key to the viable operation and ownership of the vehicle, are no longer available from the manufacturer in as little as 5 or 6 years after the vehicle is initially sold! I'm talking about sensors and on board modules and computers! If you can't find it in a salvage yard, you don't get your car fixed!
So, I guess my point is, Honda is no different from any of the others in that regard. Customer loyalty and loyalty to the customer take a distant second these days to the "enhanced" bottom line.