Penalties for not buying your mandated insurance...

[enlightenment]

88. Yep.

Finally got a quick look (before the system went down) at the benefit plans on my state exchange.

Disregarding how much or little the premium might cost, the majority of the plans are ridiculous. There is a catastrophic plan offered by one company - though they call it a "bronze" plan - that has a deductible of $6350 for individuals and $12700 for families (that's the max out of pocket allowed by the law).

Benefits? No coverage for anything until you've paid the deductible.

Putting aside that useless plan, the remaining "bronze" plans offered little more than that. All had deductibles that ranged from the maximum of $6350/$12700 to a low of $4000/$10000. Low benefits were "nothing until deductible paid" for everything except emergency services - there you pay between $200 and $500 up front and then pay co-insurance rates until the deductible is met. Better plans allowed co-pays that averaged about $50 per visit (some as low as $20, others as high as $90, depending on the service) - and co-insurance until the deductible was met.

"Silver" plans lower the deductible - the highest looked like it was $4000 - the lowest $1000 . . . but at least one of those lower deductible plans went back to the "no coverage until deductible met" for almost every service. The others were scarcely better - average $45 copays and/or coinsurance for everything. So a visit to the doctor for a nagging cough and fever might equal a couple hundred in copays after the visit, lab tests, and prescriptions are factored in - and that's not even touching the deductible.

As for cost? Well, if you are unfortunate enough to make a semi-decent wage that amounts to little or no subsidy, the plans ranged from $333 for the catastrophic plan to almost $700 for a "Gold" plan for an individual (I think there were higher ones but the system crashed when I tried to go to the next page - I did have it in premium low/high order, so I'm comfortable with that low figure).

Frankly, what I saw was something that most lower income people will not use. They'll buy it, because they fear the penalty or fear a catastrophic event or fear the derision of others who call them a burden on society - but they won't use it, because they won't be able to afford it.

If you're bringing home $1724 a month (after taxes) and have to pay a rent or mortgage, buy groceries, pay utility bills, most likely pay other debt, well, your subsidized premium of $103 (for a "Bronze" plan) or $144 (for a "Silver" plan) may be doable - or not.
Even if it is doable, what you are able to buy for that premium is not going to do you much good in terms of "health care" - it will afford you some protection for a major event and allow your betters to pat you on the back and tell you what a good citizen you are . . . but it won't really help you manage the regular round of illnesses and minor medical problems that beset most people most of the time.
A $10000 broken arm will still cost you $6350 dollars at the end of the day, and it's doubtful that you'll be all that thankful that it wasn't $3650 dollars more when the dunning calls start coming in from the collection agencies. Still, it's a broken arm, so you'll have it treated. That nagging cough, that fever that won't go away, the worrisome but not yet debilitating bloody stool? Those you'll treat yourself - or ignore them and hope they go away, because you know you don't have the money to cover the deductible and co-pay and co-insurance.