Health insurance policies came in all shapes and sizes back then, some more comprehensive than others, depending on a patient’s needs. Patients understood that health insurance was not the same thing as health care, and that it was at best a promise that sometimes went unfulfilled. Since patients no longer paid for my service directly, it was no wonder they began to think of health insurance as the same as health care. In 2015, the average individual mandate penalty for going without insurance was only $442 – far below the cost of a year’s worth of health insurance. It’s hard to feel sorry for a health insurance industry that earned $13.1 billion in 2016, up 46 percent from 2015.

Source: Fox News October 27, 2017 19:52 UTC