I would think for them to pull this off as a tax, they would have to design a form that would tax EVERYBODY $1200 and then have you claim a credit for having a policy that passed muster and / or some sort of income-limited credit. Otherwise I’d think they would fall into a semantics trap. Then there’s the whole issue on how to document compliance. The bottom line is that it will prove to be so cumbersome that people will see that single-payer is inevitable.
I agree - it would be a much more realistic “tax,” rather than “fine,” if it were handled on a credit/refund basis.
However, as you observed, “It’s not a bug - it’s a feature!” The point is for it to be unworkable as passed, so that we end up with a National Health Service disgusting mess.