i actually think that this is missing the point.

let's take a step back and understand that obamacare was exactly what the insurance company wanted, which is why they gave obama so much money. more people have health insurance than ever before. insurance premiums are going up. ka-ching!!

the mandate may be unpopular among some buyers, but the sellers couldn't ask for a better system. it's a law that forces you to buy their product...

so, trump's promise to drop the mandate is an immediate threat to the insurance industry because it threatens to take away customers - and in fact threatens to take away the most profitable ones, the healthy ones.

the penalty is merely designed to stop people from dropping the insurance, that is to prevent the insurance companies from losing customers. this is how government actually works: the parties collude with capital to fuck people over. so, the democrats are just passing the baton, here. obama signed them up, and now trump is locking them in.

http://www.vox.com/2017/3/7/14841682/republican-replacement-individual-mandate-cartoon