re: #75 Obdicut

Look at the CBO scoring (full scoring here - See Table 2 (penalties)). It assumes that a percentage of the public is noncompliant and balances the HCR on that basis. It figures that $4 billion will be collected in each of 2017 through 2019. It further assumes that 4 million will choose to pay the penalty rather than pay for the IM.

The HCR came to include non-health care related items, like federal student loan program items, Pell grants, etc., to balance the overall package. The $4 billion per year on the IM penalty provision helps to balance the scoring on the 10-year CBO estimate.