My ObamaCare nightmare (or, Moo XV)

On Wednesday, I did my 2013 taxes. I filed them and paid them. I generally get some panic attack symptoms when I do my taxes. Once it's submitted, those symptoms usually go away. It didn't this time, and that's why I'm writing this. The writing seems to help. The taxes themselves went smoothly and I only had to pay a relatively small amount (6% of what I made) since I'm so far below the poverty line. Yay for the EIC for making it slightly less awful. I make so little, I don't actually pay any income tax...only self-employment tax. It's the portion of taxes paid by the business if you're lucky enough to be employed.

There's a scene in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Captain Picard is trying to convince Geordi to bring not-up-to-date Scotty on an away mission. In it, Picard talks about how Scotty just wants to feel useful. Geordi brings Scotty along and together, they save the day. I just want to feel useful, so I try to work any way I can. Unfortunately, by working, I'm the one whose day will need saving. Follow me under the cut to find out why. ( This is long, but at least there's pictures. I tried to organize my thoughts into sections, but it's not like I wrote an outline before writing a journal entry. )

The TL,DR version: I don't make enough money to buy insurance on my own and I don't make enough to qualify for any help, but I still might have to pay the tax penalty for not having insurance. The penalty incentivizes not working and makes it more expensive to get employment from April to December than January to March for the long-term unemployed. Also, I can't remember if I ever wrote an entry that had more than 3000 words...