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1. Will I always be able to bypass the safety by going to Neutral, or will it finally fail completely?
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Might work for a few more starts, or it might work for another year or two--no way to know for sure. Inside of switch gets corroded. If park position contacts are bad, neutral contacts will eventually go bad also. I attached a picture of what the inside of this switch looks like. you can see the corrosion on the contacts. Other thing that can happen is the white plastic wiper arm can break. If that happens you won't be able to start in either "P" or "N".
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2. Do you think it is possible that I just need the neutral safety switch, or does this mean I must have an issue with a worn out/missing shift mechanism bushing? I am just asking because nothing feels loose or different to me with the shifter, so I wondered if the switch could just fail without any problem with the bushing.
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If shifter feels normal, bushings are probably OK. If (or when) you replace the switch, I would have your mechanic change the bushings also. There are two of them, one on each end of a pushrod. Cost for two bushings is less than $5.00--takes an additional 5 minutes labor when replacing the switch.
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3. If it is the neutral safety switch, which now I guess it probably is, will my mechanics be able to test and diagnose the swtich problem even if it isn't actually failing at the moment they test it?
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I am 99.99% sure it is the switch. If over the course of the next few days you are able to start in "N" after a failed attempt in "P" I would be 100% sure. If the switch happens to be working when your shop looks at it they will not be able to diagnose the problem. Replacing the switch should take your mechanic less than an hour. Cost of the switch is $29.93 from FASTLANE PARTS (sponser of this web board) It would probably be cheaper to just replace the switch than spend a lot of diagnostic time.......
Let us know how this turns out