The ACA, as passed, is far from what it is today. It was passed to help get coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Which it has done and done well. 15 years ago it was a question of what was the less bad outcome , letting people who are already sick not have access to care, and costing everyone more. Or Letting the sick people suffer and everyone else pays what they were paying. There is a strong argument for compassion over cash. But. That was 15 yrs ago. Now the insurance companies are vertically integrated and far different. What we see today isn’t because of the ACA. It’s because we let the companies grow into behemoths that have more power over our lives than any other companies. They define the healthcare system. Now it’s time to turn the tables. More than half the customers of health insurance companies are private companies. If you want to protest the cost of healthcare , go to your ceo that signs off on doing business with them , and tell that because of the deal they signed with the big insurers and their PBMs , they are fucking over the country. Most of those CEOs self insure. Tell them to switch to direct contracts , wrap around insurance, smaller PBMs that are transparent and Fee for Service this party administrators Your ceo is as responsible for your skyrocketing healthcare costs as the companies he is buying your insurance from(Mark Cuban)