I talked to a New Hire at work who believes that the uninsured penalty is cumulative; based on the number of offenses. (ie, $95 for your first offense, $200 for the 2nd, etc) He actually has a plan to stop paying for insurance (2-3yrs from now to attend grad school full time), assuming that he would be able to afford the cost of the 1st/2nd penalties.
I tried to explain it to him, but he didn't believe me.
I have no doubt that Obamacare won't need to make things better (or even hit any of it's promised goals), but will instead be credited with preventing the destruction of civilization; The same way the Porkulus kept the country from becoming a third world country. The media spin will be that "things could've been worse."