from TFA: > For 2016 and beyond, the penalty will be $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of household income, up from $325 per adult or 2 percent of household income

from TFA: > For 2016 and beyond, the penalty will be $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of household income, up from $325 per adult or 2 percent of household income last year. The difference is that health care costs in the US are nonsensical. So high that it's really hard for the penalty to be less than the cost of insurance, until you have a six-figure income. If you make low-six-figures, you very likely get good health insurance through your employer (which ends up being priced much more reasonably because the group includes mostly healthy people).