Calling the payment that uninsured people must pay a "penalty" is a political fiction.

There are numerous established processes in which persons can "opt out" of "legal requirements" by making "payments in kind" of by "bonding" (frequently with annual forfeitures of the bond amounts - i.e. annyal "payments.") This is especially prevalent in state laws mandating liability insurance for drivers/vehicles.

It gives those who can't, or won't, buy insurance to pay a nominal "fee" that (theoretically) shows "ability to pay" in lieu of having conventional insurance.

The "fines" for not being insured under the health insurance act are, at least for now, quite nominal compared to typical payments for existing insurance policies in effect prior to the act. They are in (inadequate) part, a perfectly appropriate payment for the cost to the people as a whole of being an uninsured burden.

A goal of the act was to create more affordable policies available to the uninsured before the fees escalate; and there has been visible progress on that front, although of course we'd like to see a lot more of that kind of progress.

Congress has plenty of time to work the wrinkles out of the act, if there are still valid objections, although that's unlikely until Republicans abandon their stated policy of obstruction based on their principle that the party is more important than the Country, and the "big donors" are the only ones that the party needs to satisfy.

John