Obamacare got rid of the "Pre-existing condition" clause and the "lifetime limit" clause, both of which were absolute 100% horse spunk. A person should not have their financial life ruined because of an accident or condition they cannot choose to not have/not treat being expensive, and the pre-existing conditiuon clause was just a cheat card that let insurance companies pull whatever excuse out of their lazy fat arse they wanted for not treating you. "Oh, you had an ear infection at the age of 2? Well that is a pre-existing condition, so now we are going to drop you from our policy because you are racking up bills from that allergic reaction to IV drugs you had, get fucked. (nevermind that we were fine with taking a premium from you every month before now)". IMO, the elimination of the pre existing and lifetime limit clauses is the one good thing obama did in his 8 year tenure.
And yes, that actually happened to my sister during a 3 month long hospital stay. Almost landed us with a $100k medical bill until my father was able to find a new job with better insurance (that employer specifically negotiated that pre-existing clause to be removed for employees and their families) to pick up the tab.
The rest of that bill was pure horse spunk. A bunch of neo-liberal/neo-con masturbatory garbage meant to enrich companies and tax consumers for shit coverage.
In my opinion, all the mandates and taxes were useless. If they REALLY wanted to fix healthcare, they would just say "look, we are going to remove all the obamacare requirements, and we are also going to allow you to bring back the pre existing and lifetime limit clauses. But we are going to let people enroll in medicare, at cost, at anytime before 65, for a cost of ~$143 (the premium cost for part B). It does not have a pre existing or lifetime limit clause. That is now the price you must compete against. Good luck" and let the free market sort it out.
Because a free market, with no regulations, does NOT work when you have a captive market. We have seen that with ISPs, we saw that with utilities (why do you think they are public utilities now), and we are seeing that with healthcare. The government allowing medicare enrollment before the age of 65 would create that pressure to keep prices down the industry desperately needs right now.
