[umvi]

Insurance implies you have a choice in the matter (i.e. it is optional), but in this case (Obama-era health insurance) it wasn't optional. So why not just call it a tax, which is what it really was?

To me it sounds very similar to social security tax - the young being forced to pay to subsidize the old.

[alkonaut]

The use of the term “insurance” is used for non-optional programs where the premiums are taxes. Perhaps not in the US though.