[grania]

Now I'm confused. "Out" is the mandates but "In" is a 30% penalty for not being insured. Tell me I'm wrong. But this sure does sound like they're taking out the words "mandate" and "tax" and replacing it with "penalty".

I do hope I'm misreading this.

[Drago]

Yeah, “individual mandate out”, and individual mandate right back in w/30% penalty! Only pols can write this kind of hokum! Shame on Congress, just repeal it all already! Hopefully Mr. Trump threatens veto until they fix this mess.

[CMAC51]

You are wrong. You pay no Penalty for being uninsured. You pay the penalty for going uninsured, Then trying to buy in OK nice you need it. Like buying car insurance to cover the accident not you just had.

[Norseman]

You’re misreading it.

You never have to buy insurance at all. There’s no mandate. However, if you decide to go without insurance from the start, and then get sick and want to buy insurance, you can be charged up to 30% more than you’d otherwise have paid if you’d have purchased insurance at the outset.

This is not only reasonable, but it’s probably too cheap. The law should instead specify that the insurance company can omit coverage for any pre-existing condition that you have when you finally decide to sign up. That way, you take the complete risk of going uninsured. Why shouldn’t you? A 30% premium increase will be a bargain for most people and they’ll wait to sign up until they incur a major health event.