Every year medical costs drive hundreds of thousands of households to file for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is tough for the bankrupt person—but it’s also tough for the creditors. In the case of a medical bankruptcy, those creditors include hospitals, who must write-off discharged debts. They have to charge more for care to cover this.
If healthcare reform reduces the number of medical bankruptcies, it should also reduce the cost of medical care. If everybody is insured, hospitals can be paid for everybody they treat—not just the ones with resources to pay.
What happens when the choice of purchasing health insurance is between a monthly premium of $2100 for your family of four (the average premium in 7 years without taking into account the guaranteed rise in the cost of premiums post-reform) and a penalty of not having insurance of $900 per year.
I would surely choose the penalty and invest the other $24,000.