No, the ACA doesn't "force" you to buy an insurance product from a private corporation.

[TheKentuckian]

113. I didn't say it was the same other than in regard that both are penalties for non-compliance with

laws.

You are distorting the legal system. There are few or no laws that prevent a person from violating the laws. Your argument is no one is forced to buy insurance and that is exactly true as there are no laws that force you not to murder. That doesn't mean the penalties for the respective violations are the same or similar, it means since we are not a realm of magic that our laws punish violations rather than prevent them.

It doesn't matter what the penalty is and such an argument is a poor defense of an unsound argument.

Maybe murder is just too far out of scope. Instead we can go with speeding. Getting a ticket and/or points against your license don't prevent one from speeding they are a consequence of non-compliance, they are punishment, they are indeed penalties.

Penalties generally way under 2.5% of income just to get a similar scale so you get off the distraction but it shouldn't matter what the offense or the penalty is, it shouldn't be too hard to grasp the point of why your statement is not practicably relevant.