2. The $95 mandate myth

Most people know there’s a penalty for being uncovered. But they are wrong about the amount.

“You have to pause and say, ‘It’s not one Ben Franklin, it’s probably closer to three,’” said Brian Haile, senior vice president for health policy at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. Customers constantly walked in and declared that they were going to forgo coverage and cough up the $95 penalty, he said. Then they’d learn that it was actually $95 or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater. In 2016, the amount increases to $695 or 2.5 percent of income.

“They say, ‘Well, that’s a lot more than what my congressman told me, or what I read in the newspaper or heard on television,’” Haile said. “They’re sort of flummoxed.”

The government didn’t stress the penalty during much of the outreach. “I have a strong feeling that the kind of vagueness about the mandate and penalty was deliberate,” said Jacobs, the political scientist. “It’s better to attract people with the benefit than threaten them the IRS is going after them.”