Affordable Care
A lot of complaints about the ACA seem related to monthly premiums going up compared to pre-ACA plans. It goes something like this: prior to the ACA I was paying $X, now I&#x27;m paying more, therefore the ACA is bad.<p>But here&#x27;s the thing, pre-ACA and post-ACA plans are not remotely directly comparable. Pre-ACA plans could reject you for pre-existing conditions, drop your coverage if you got sick and became too expensive to insure (recission), or had maximum lifetime limits that would leave you bankrupt if you got a serious chronic illness (think expensive cancer treatments). All of these practices are now banned under the ACA.<p>Does anyone remember applying for individual health insurance prior to the ACA? It was a nightmare. You had to fill out a 30-page questionnaire regarding your health history, and if you made any mistakes, the insurance company would have cause to deny your claims if you ever got sick. You weren&#x27;t sure if your insurance would actually pay out when you needed it. And that&#x27;s assuming they even approved you in the first place.<p>So yes, health insurance costs more now, but you have to ask yourself, was that $50-100&#x2F;month plan you were paying for <i>really</i> health insurance if they could drop your coverage just because you were getting too expensive for them? Besides, in exchange for paying more, a lot of people less fortunate than myself can now get coverage, and I know my coverage will actually pay out in the event that I become seriously ill. So overall, despite the additional cost, I think it&#x27;s a net improvement.<p>It&#x27;s not perfect, however. It still leaves too much power in the hands of the insurance companies, who are essentially middlemen squeezing the health care industry from both ends: charging higher premiums to patients and paying less to doctors, so they can extract a profit in the middle. Ultimately we need to transition to a single-payer system where insurance is administered by a government entity instead of profit-seeking corporations.<p>This is how every other modern country in the world does it, and the result is better health outcomes than the US. It&#x27;s absurd how behind the times we are on this front.