A pleasant Obamacare surprise?

I promise this will be the last Obamacare post for awhile, but I saw this WP post today and thought I should share it so that readers continue to get a balanced perspective.  In 2009 experts were predicting that monthly premiums would be about $450 for a "silver" plan.  Most media coverage since then has warned of stiff increases in premiums. 

Now California has posted the actual rates for 2014 and the results are encouraging.  The lowest pre-subsidy price is $276; the second lowest is $294.  After subsidies, the rates will be in the $100-110 range. 

If this turns out to be the case in most states, then it is quite likely that more individuals than expected will opt to buy insurance instead of paying the penalty for being uncovered.  Although the penalty will be a relatively low $95 in 2014, it rises to a much heftier $695 in 2016.