NY State's health insurance market has been so batshit overregulated for so long (back in the 90's they forced insurers to accept everyone regardless of medical condition and most private insurers left the state as a result) that our costs actually dropped post-ACA.
Oh. So for all the New Yorkers here, their options are:
(1) continue having insurance (assuming you had it before) but pay less, although still a ton; or
(2) don't have insurance, and only pay the penalty IF the cost of insurance exceeds 8% of your income--in other words, if you're looking at $10k for the lowest-cost plan for your family size, your income would have to exceed $125k in order for you to pay the penalty. If you earn less than $125k, no penalty. For the under-30s, though, I'm guessing the lowest-cost plan they consider for penalty purposes is the catastrophic plan, so you'd have to be earning less than $54k to avoid the penalty.
Your other option is to move to a state where they let insurers charge people different rates based on age:
New Jersey: Move across the river from NYC and boom, you two as 25 and 28yo can get a silver policy with a $1350 deductible ($2700 family) for $520/mo, or $6240/yr. Catastrophic plans in NJ seem to be about the same price as NY, $350-ish.
PA: Move across the PA border and you can get catastrophic plans for $184/mo (that's for both of you!), or a silver plan with a $1000 deductible ($2000 family) for $372/mo. Heck, you can get a $0 deductible platinum plan for $481/mo!
I predict that NY will lose some good people because of their refusal to let insurers differentiate by age...