I'm sorry you went through that. My analysis was short largely because I was still in high school when it passed. I knew it was a nightmare prior, but didn't have any direct experiences.
The beat of the drum has long been "repeal the ACA" for a political party. It rallies people to undo a sweeping change the other party put in place, but it has never materialized. So many parts of the ACA poll very popular, a complete repeal without a really good alternative (which has also never materialized beyond "a concept of a plan") would be a surefire way to immediately lose political standing.
And perhaps most sad of all of this is ACA didn't even remove health insurance from its tie to employers. There are still massive inefficiencies for people who hit a deductible or max out pocket early in the year. They'll either need to pay through the nose for COBRA through the year end, or switch jobs and start over with the deductible and max out of pocket, which for large swaths of the population is simply not a reasonable option. Switching near the start of the plan year is optimal, but definitely less efficient overall.
In 2020 I learned health insurance premiums from your paycheck are taken pre-tax, however you cannot deduct COBRA premiums. It really rubs salt in the wound for people who have been laid off.
Yes, I mean I was young and a republican at the time but even I was pissed that Joe Liberman voted single payer down.
My perspective at the time which was naive/wrong was that we should either deregulate completely (which was a foolish perspective from my youth) or switch to single payer like France's system where doctors stay independent (unlike the UK's NHS at the time) and we just shoot the health insurance industry.
It was very obvious to anyone who had regular dealings with our system that it was opaque, cruel, insane and a premium cost for an inferior experience.
Not to mention the history of insurance companies losing lawsuits because as a "cost saving tactic" they would deny claims by default so people would die before procedures were approved.
From a cost efficacy and perverse incentives perspective it was clear that things had to change but that the ACA as it was passed would be easy to pick away at and sabotage by insurance industry and health provider conglomerates, and that is exactly what has happened.
Still the protections in place are FAR better than what we had.
It was very common at the time to hear even Republicans refer to themselves as "wage slaves" because of how beholden the populace was to corporate insurance and how it effected career choices.
The beat of the drum has long been "repeal the ACA" for a political party. It rallies people to undo a sweeping change the other party put in place, but it has never materialized. So many parts of the ACA poll very popular, a complete repeal without a really good alternative (which has also never materialized beyond "a concept of a plan") would be a surefire way to immediately lose political standing.
And perhaps most sad of all of this is ACA didn't even remove health insurance from its tie to employers. There are still massive inefficiencies for people who hit a deductible or max out pocket early in the year. They'll either need to pay through the nose for COBRA through the year end, or switch jobs and start over with the deductible and max out of pocket, which for large swaths of the population is simply not a reasonable option. Switching near the start of the plan year is optimal, but definitely less efficient overall.
In 2020 I learned health insurance premiums from your paycheck are taken pre-tax, however you cannot deduct COBRA premiums. It really rubs salt in the wound for people who have been laid off.