I'm not totally clear on the different situations here. I thought the tax penalty was only about $3k for even fairly wealthy families (family of 4, $150k/yr salary). It sounds like you felt you couldn't afford ACA insurance ($17k) and couldn't afford to pay the penalty either, so you went out and purchased $3k of "insurance" you don't actually have any faith in and didn't really want. Am I confused about the penalty amounts? Or you just felt that if you were going to pay $3k, you might as well give it to Christian Medishare?