“The government would then take that money and purchase a health insurance policy for that individual who rejected the law’s command.”
Right, that was from some alternate reality as I have never heard or seen such a thing to have occurred.
First I ever heard of it. In all the talk about the penalty, nobody ever said “and when you pay the penalty, you will be sent the details of the insurance plan you were enrolled in using your penalty money”.
I just got a letter from the IRS today warning me that if I stay uninsured I may face heavy penalties this year so I should enroll before Jan 31st. It didn’t say anything about using my penalty to buy me insurance. Glad I can ignore that letter.
I have been claiming an exemption because insurance would cost more than 8% of my gross income. If they actually provided insurance in exchange for paying the 2% penalty, that exemption wouldn’t need to exist.