The difference between Obamacare and Romneycare

I have time and time again posted my opinion about the ACA (Obamacare) imitating the MA 'An Act Providing Access to Affordable, Quality, Accountable Health Care’ (Romneycare). I would like to provide a little info on Romneycare since I don’t think many have even looked at it. The main differences that are pertinent to the people are following below. I have used a few different sources and provide the links to each.

These differences are what make or break the ACA for the people. If the info below is too much to digest, here it is in a nutshell. Romneycare:

1. Young people pay less premiums but higher co-pays and deductibles, older people pay higher premiums with lower co-pays and deductibles.
2. No penalty. “Penalties will not apply to people who have been granted hardship waivers or religious exemptions. In addition, penalties will not apply to undocumented noncitizens, Native Americans, people who are incarcerated, people without coverage for less than three months, people with very low incomes, and people who cannot find affordable insurance.”
3. You can opt out for a variety of reasons with no penalty. “Residents without health insurance can use Schedule HC to request an income, affordability, religious, or hardship exemption, or to file an appeal. “
4. You can purchase sub-standard policies if that is all you can afford.
5. Romneycare doesn’t have a goal of a single payor plan. Obamacare does.
Here are my sources:

en.wikipedia.org...
Individual taxes[edit]
Residents of Massachusetts must have health insurance coverage under Chapter 58.[32] Residents must indicate on their tax forms if they had insurance on December 31 of that tax year, had a waiver for religious reasons, or had a waiver from the Connector. The Connector waiver can be obtained if the resident demonstrates that there is no available coverage that is defined by the Connector as affordable.[28] In March 2007, the Connector adopted an affordability schedule that allows residents to seek a waiver. If a resident does not have coverage and does not have a waiver, the Department of Revenue will enforce the insurance requirement by imposing a penalty. In 2007, the penalty was the loss of the personal exemption. Beginning in 2008, the penalty is half the cost of the lowest available yearly premium which will be enforced as an assessed addition to the individual's income tax.[33]
Young adult coverage[edit]
Beginning in July 2007, the Connector offers reduced benefit plans for young adults up to age 26 who do not have access to employer-based coverage.[34]
Implementation
Coverage for people above 100% of poverty up to 300% of poverty began on February 1, 2007. As of December 1, 2007, around 158,000 people were enrolled in Commonwealth Care plans. Initial bids received by the Connector showed a likely cost for the minimum insurance plan of about $380 per month. The Connector rejected those bids, and asked insurers to propose less expensive plans. New bids were announced on March 3, 2007. The Governor announced that "the average uninsured Massachusetts resident will be able to purchase health insurance for $175 per month."[38] But plan costs will vary greatly depending on the plan selected, age and geographic location, ranging from just over $100 per month for plans for young adults with high copayments and deductibles to nearly $900 per month for comprehensive plans for older adults with low deductibles and copayments. Copayments, deductibles and out-of-pocket contributions may vary among plans.

You will face federal penalties if you do not have health insurance, and you are likely to face state penalties as well. The state and federal rules about who will have to pay a penalty and the penalty amounts will probably be different.
Penalties will not apply to people who have been granted hardship waivers or religious exemptions. In addition, penalties will not apply to undocumented noncitizens, Native Americans, people who are incarcerated, people without coverage for less than three months, people with very low incomes, and people who cannot find affordable insurance.
For the federal mandate, insurance will be considered 'not affordable' if the lowest cost plan costs more than 8% of your income. Massachusetts will likely phase in an 8% affordability rule but will modify it to use a sliding scale schedule similar to what the state uses now.
People who cannot find affordable health insurance or who qualify for a religious or hardship exemption or waiver do not have to pay a penalty.
How do I avoid a penalty?
You must file Schedule HC, Health Care Information, when you file your state income taxes to avoid the penalty. Residents with MCC health insurance use Schedule HC to show that they have coverage. Residents without health insurance can use Schedule HC to request an income, affordability, religious, or hardship exemption, or to file an appeal.
www.massresources.org...

In ending, this from race42016.com... :

We know what Romney’s goal was when he passed his health care plan. His goal was to involve the private sector of Massachusetts in insuring a small percentage of the Massachusetts’ residents [who didn't have health insurance and who were receiving free health care from the government.]
Obama’s goal prior to signing Obamacare into law was much, much bigger.
In 2003, he said, “I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care plan.”
The fact is, Obamacare was originally going to be single payer. It was going to be European — as close to it as Congress would allow. But that was curbed. What they got, instead — what we got, instead — was the first step. Obamacare. The first step toward single-payer, universal healthcare coverage.
And that is the crucial difference. Romney never said, never touted, never promised that “we may not get [single-payer] immediately” or even a little later than immediately. Romneycare is not Obamacare because Obamacare is just getting started. One was an end in and of itself. The other is (still) a means to an end.

Definitions of a hardship according to MA HC schedule 2012 (pdf file available on the MA health care site):

In your appeal, you may claim that the penalty should not apply to you. You may claim that you could not afford insurance in 2012 because you experienced a hardship. To establish a hardship, you must be able to show that, during 2012:
(a) You were homeless, more than 30 days in arrears in rent or mortgage payments, or received an eviction or foreclosure notice;
(b) You received a shut-off notice, were shut off, or were refused the delivery of essential utilities (gas, electric, oil, water, or telephone);

rest of the info on next post

(c) You incurred a significant, unexpected increase in essential expenses resulting directly from the consequences of: (i) domestic violence; (ii) the death of a spouse, family member, or partner with primary responsibility for child care, where that spouse, family member, or partner shared household expenses with you; (iii) the sudden responsibility for providing full care for yourself, an aging parent or other family member, including a major, extended illness of a child that required a working parent to hire a full-time caretaker for the child; or (iv) a fire, flood, natural disaster, or other unexpected natural or human-caused event causing substantial household or personal damage for the individual filing the appeal.
(d) Your financial circumstances were such that the expense of purchasing health insurance would have caused you to experience a serious deprivation of food, shelter, clothing or other necessities.
(e) Your family size was so large that reliance on the affordability schedule (see Table 3: Affordability) to determine how much you could afford to pay for health insurance is inequitable.
(f) During 2012 you purchased health insurance that did not meet Minimum Creditable Coverage requirements, but which was close to or substantially met those requirements, and you felt that your circumstances prevented you from buying other insurance that met the requirements.
(g) During 2012 you purchased health insurance that did not meet Minimum Creditable Coverage requirements because that is all that your employer offered, and you felt that your circumstances prevented you from buying other insurance that met the requirements.
You may also base your appeal on other circumstances, such as the application of the affordability tables in Schedule HC to you is inequitable (for example, due to fluctuations in income or other changes in life circumstances that affect financial status during the year), you were unable to obtain government subsidized insurance despite your income, or other circumstances that made you unable to purchase insurance despite your income.

America trying to operate a health care system which works is like watching a no legged man attempt to run one hundred meters.

Understand this if you can. There is no reason why anyone should pay an upfront fee for care, nor pay a doctors bill afterward, nor for medication, nor for long term care. Everyone should pay in taxes, and everyone should get the same care. Healthcare is not a privilege, but a right in a just society. If it is not seen this way, then the society is not just, and ought to stop pretending that its issue with a tax funded health care system has anything to do with how fair it is, and has far more to do with whose pocket it comes out of.

We used to have it right here in the UK, but now they have messed it up, and people have to pay for their medications. We never should have allowed even the merest smidgin of our healthcare system to become privatised, because the minute you let a corporate interest in to such an important arena, someone gets boned. Nationalise the health service, take the power away from corporations and place it in the hands of the citizen. Get the money OUT, get the care IN.

It appears I was wrong on one issue of Obamacare. There are exemptions.

www.healthcare.gov...

Under certain circumstances, you won’t have to make the individual responsibility payment. This is called an “exemption.”

You may qualify for an exemption if:
•You’re uninsured for less than 3 months of the year
•The lowest-priced coverage available to you would cost more than 8% of your household income
•You don’t have to file a tax return because your income is too low (Learn about the filing limit.)
•You’re a member of a federally recognized tribe or eligible for services through an Indian Health Services provider
•You’re a member of a recognized health care sharing ministry
•You’re a member of a recognized religious sect with religious objections to insurance, including Social Security and Medicare
•You’re incarcerated, and not awaiting the disposition of charges against you
•You’re not lawfully present in the U.S.

Hardship exemptions

If you have any of the circumstances below that affect your ability to purchase health insurance coverage, you may qualify for a “hardship” exemption:
1.You were homeless.
2.You were evicted in the past 6 months or were facing eviction or foreclosure.
3.You received a shut-off notice from a utility company.
4.You recently experienced domestic violence.
5.You recently experienced the death of a close family member.
6.You experienced a fire, flood, or other natural or human-caused disaster that caused substantial damage to your property.
7.You filed for bankruptcy in the last 6 months.
8.You had medical expenses you couldn’t pay in the last 24 months.
9.You experienced unexpected increases in necessary expenses due to caring for an ill, disabled, or aging family member.
10.You expect to claim a child as a tax dependent who’s been denied coverage in Medicaid and CHIP, and another person is required by court order to give medical support to the child. In this case, you do not have the pay the penalty for the child.
11.As a result of an eligibility appeals decision, you’re eligible for enrollment in a qualified health plan (QHP) through the Marketplace, lower costs on your monthly premiums, or cost-sharing reductions for a time period when you weren’t enrolled in a QHP through the Marketplace.
12.You were determined ineligible for Medicaid because your state didn’t expand eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

My bad.