The penalty is for being unhealthy, not poor. There are poor people that are healthy, just because a lot aren't, do you expect insurance companies to give them special treatment?
This is coming from somebody who was raised in a very poor family so it's got nothing to do with not caring about poverty. It's just these sort of liberal ideas you could hear at an occupy protest show zero understanding of economics and are basically just bitching about companies.
Nobody ever said it was their fault.