Forbes contributor Bruce Japsen wrote that a new analysis from Avalere Health shows that “some middle income healthy individuals” find it more affordable to pay “penalties under the Affordable Care Act for not having health insurance” than to pay for the coverage itself. Using “a 27-year-old who makes $23,000 a year” as an example, the Avalere report said, “If he did not buy insurance [last year], he would pay $230 in penalties – $619 less than if he had purchased coverage. … However, with mandate penalties rising in 2015, if the same individual chose to stay uninsured in 2015, he would spend only $391 more on insurance than if he had paid the penalty.” Avalere said in a statement that this helps explain the “lackluster uptake of the special enrollment period.” The Hill reported that the Avalere analysis “finds that for people making less than 200 percent of the poverty line, or about $23,000, purchasing insurance is usually cheaper because of income-based subsidies under the law.”
