I could be wrong, but I was under the assumption that if insurance was available to you and your dependants through your employer that you had to use it instead of the marketplace.
You always have the option to use the marketplace.
You do realize that there are people who's policy has doubled or tripled in order for you to save that $600. Why do you feel that it's a good thing for you to benefit by penalizing others?
Do you mean people like
this 56-year-old woman, who was paying $54/month for "coverage" that covered hospitalization only in the case of pregnancy and paid only $50 towards doctor's visits?
To answer your question, the reason why we think we should "penalize" others by having a certain minimum standard for health insurance is because when those people with substandard health insurance get sick and their insurance doesn't cover them,
we're going to be paying for it anyway. Unless you're proposing that we start turning people away at emergency rooms unless they pay up front?
This is the primary reason that this whole ponzi scheme is going to crumble upon itself. My insurance went up a considerable amount. My $227 a month increase doesn't matter to you when you are saving $600.
Without getting into the specifics of your particular situation, it seems like every time some conservative complains about an increase in their health insurance plan, one or more of the following is true:
a) they had a cheap plan with coverage so minimal that it would have effectively done nothing in the case of serious illness or injury
b) they did not price compare and see if better options are available (which is puzzling for a political group who are normally in favor of market competition)
c) they deliberately ignore or refuse to accept the available tax credits that would lower the cost of their plan (even though they happily accept other tax credits like mortgage interest deduction)
I leave it to the reader to consider the possible motivation behind actions b) and c).
I truly don't know anyone of any age that keeps a landline.
I keep a landline for my fax machine, home alarm, and to give to telemarketers and people I don't want to talk to.