[Mindless2112]

> Try having a pre-existing condition before ACA - no one will insure you because you're too expensive, or your premiums go ridiculously high.

Insurance is paying someone (the insurer) to take ownership of a risk from you (the insured) by compensating you if the risk is realized. If the risk has already been realized then, of course, no insurer will be willing to take ownership of it for less than the cost of the compensation.

The system we have today can hardly be considered "insurance".

[jrs235]

Yup. There's a very real issue of people conflating health insurance "coverage" and health care coverage. The ACA doesn't ensure care, it ensures insurance coverage. Many people may now be able "afford" insurance coverage but just as many or more still can't "afford" care.

[dragonwriter]

> There's a very real issue of people conflating health insurance "coverage" and health care coverage.

The Essential Benefits defined in the ACA guarantee that, within certain bounds, that isn't an inaccurate equivalency. It's true that every version of then Republican modifications characterized as “repeal and replace” has not only attacked insurance coverage but also made insurance coverage less likely to be care coverage, so it's certainly important to recognize the difference.