FORT WORTH, Texas -- Stephanie Daugherty earns too much from her part-time job at a doctor's office to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to comfortably afford one of the health plans for sale through the federally-run insurance exchange that Texas and many states use. So the 26-year-old nursing student and mother paid a $180 tax penalty -- 1 percent of her annual income -- to spend another year uninsured. "I just figured it was cheaper than signing up for health insurance," said Daugherty, whose 4-year-old son is covered by Medicaid and who limits doctor visits to an annual exam at a Planned Parenthood clinic. With Sunday's deadline to enroll through the exchange...
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