I understand and my state’s enrollment site was inaccessible most of yesterday.
But I would search for legitimate published articles covering the questions you have, such as the penalty for no coverage. I probably have read over 100 articles in the past two years on the subject. The enrollment websites probably aren’t the optimal source for this type of information anyway.
If you have a state exchange you will need to wait for access to that to get information on the particular plans available in your state. Once you know the names of the insurers and the titles of the approved plans then you can go to the insurer’s website in many cases. If no state exchange then the fed website.
Good luck. If you need coverage by January 1 then make sure you are enrolled by December 15th.
It’s worth noting that many of the major insurers are putting a “light” version of their regular plans on the exchanges.. a restricted list of doctors and hospitals, and no (or limited) outside plan coverage. So, the folks doing comparisons at the company sites should make sure they’re actually looking at the same plan that’s on the exchange.