QFT. A strong penalty to discourage free riders is actually effective insurance against single payer.
I gotta clear the air here. From the time I was 14 I have paid taxes. I have worked all but a couple of those years, and the couple I had off were involuntary separations from employment. Some employers had insurance plans, some did not. I paid into those who did, and when self-employed paid into my own.
This legislation, this ACA, removed my insurance from the marketplace and left two alternatives at a bad time:
Either something that cost nearly FIVE times as much, but had a deductible that was higher than the deductible and co-pay maximum under my old plan, or do without.
That left me with a decision: Pay three and a half times what my family's average out of pocket medical expenses would be for an insurance policy that left me on the hook for an additional nearly twice my family's average medical expenses would be (cost five times average annual medical expenses) of just pay the bill when I needed services. Frankly, that was a no-brainer.
There has been no free ride. The bills have been paid, out of pocket. But I damnsure resent being called a "free rider" when the government shot my horse.