> You might have not known about it and tried to buy a bronze plan instead,

I always looked at every plan there was. Most of the work was getting thru the qualifications. After all that, every plan got examined multiple times.

> Most of Obamacare brings max medical expenses to about 10% of income for a single person

During the 2010s my wife and each brought in ~$10k/yr. That was in line with most folks we knew, in the $10k-$35k range. A typical month made 80% of minimal bills.

In searching for policies in the $12/yr range there might have been 'catastrophic' policies that were just most of my income instead of all of it.

I want thru the qualification 2x more for $24k and $32k. The latter being the cheapest polices I saw all that day. I took a few screenshots back then. I'm searching my archives and if I find them I'll post back.