I'm 26 so I went to the doctor maybe twice in 6 years, I only want coverage in case of emergency.
PS: I can pay 5000$ out of pocket if needed.
I do think people in the USA are overwrought about going without health insurance. It's a risk, but so is driving a car. If you do end up with a big medical bill, medical debt is (at least in my experience) more manageable that other kinds of debt.
I had surgery with anesthesia (kidney stones) for less than $10K.
I might be wrong--but I'd want to see data based on actual people actually treated.
All said and done, my medical bills would have hit $54,000.
There's a fine for doing this, precisely to stop people from doing what you're suggesting. But I think the fine is so small that it's actually worth doing it (rather than having insurance).
For what it's worth, the penalties, as currently planned out, are only 'paid' by capturing tax returns. One could effectively, and legally avoid paying those penalties by changing their tax documents such that no returns are expected, or so that they would owe each year.
The IRS currently cannot demand payment on those penalties, but if you were due $1000 refund, they can withhold the $95 from it. If, however, you owe $10 in taxes, they cannot make you pay $105, as you might otherwise suspect.
If I take a plan for me and my wife, the cheapest plan is 660$, which makes it 7920$ a year.
I also have a child, but I can take a plan just for her, which would be 280$.
At 26 you should be able to limit your out of pocket to less than $20,000 for a few grand a year, you have to compare that to what it would cost you to declare bankruptcy.
That's a species of risk that is admirable and patriotic!
A safer plan might be to buy non-qualifying catastrophic coverage in case you get in an accident or develop a serious illness outside the open enrollment period. Safer, but more expensive, than relying on hacking the system to bail you out if shit happens.
If you'd rather bet that you won't get an expensive injury (a dangerous idea, in my opinion—emergency health care is expensive in the US), you can just pay the no-insurance fine. But it's not the way I would go.