Or another way to put it is that insurance was required, and if you didn't comply, you incurred a financial consequence if you got caught. Compare it with auto liability insurance--if you don't have it, you incur a financial consequence if you get caught. But you never hear people talking about how those without auto liability insurance are merely exercising their choice not to have it, and instead choosing to suffer a consequence.
And sure, you have to wait until open enrollment to get insurance once you're sick, but the ACA's disincentive to do so is no longer applicable, so those who want to gamble and wait until they're sick are better off than they were before.
