@good Sam,
You got me by the word.
How about an appendix surgery and the follow-up care afterwards?
It's nowhere near $40k but in any event I'll make my point another way:
Those who have income high enough to be within the mandate, who would otherwise get ER care for which they would not pay make up a
tiny fraction of the overall amount of unpaid healthcare. The lion's share is provided to illegal aliens and poor people, and both of these groups are not subject to the mandate.
SO -- the effect of the mandate is
primarily to require young healthy people, who will likely not need healthcare and choose to play the odds (which, after all, are in their favor), to pay for the healthcare of illegals, poor people, and people with pre-existing conditions. This amounts to taking from those who have, to give to those who do not have which is the very essence of socialism.