The ACA clearly raised premiums to a level higher than without the ACA:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapo...are-act-that-increased-premiums/#6690888411d2
The ACA was a misguided attempt to make insurance better, but it actually made it worse. Classic example of a party doing something just to do something, even though they knew there were major flaws. Rather than attack the problem (cost being charged for care), we try to get more people covered to the providers can make ever more money. (same thing happened with college education--increase the amount of gov't guaranteed loans, and cost of tuition when through the ****ing roof). Prior to the ACA, hospitals had massive write offs (many hospitals are required to see many critical/emergency patients). The ACA has reduced those writedowns extensively, but the fees charged by these facilities have gone up, not down. The idea was to get healthy people to sign up, but the penalty/incentives didn't work, and were largely neutered by the court. As it stands now, if you get cancer without insurance, you can apply and still get it. It is akin to buying homeowners insurance after your house burns down. Why pay all the premiums when they can't exclude you later on? It could bite you if you can't deal with the short waiting period if you have a sudden serious accident, but the majority of young and healthy Americans would get free/written off care for most of those treatments anyway, as the pool is comprised of young people without a lot of capital...
The issue is we are the only 1st world country that doesn't have some sort of socialized medicine with cost caps. I don't have the data in front of me, but I posted a link to the research before on here--IIRC, something like 70% of big pharma profits are derived from U.S. patients, but we only make up something like 15-20% of their customer base. Most countries have caps on the fees pharmaceutical and medical equipment providers can charge, and some limit the amounts that a Dr. or surgeon and/or facility can charge.
In regards to durable medical equipment and pharma, we subsidize the rest of the world. I want us to go single payer with caps. The rest of the industrialized world will have a huge increase in the cost of medications and equipment, or the medical companies won't provide drugs and services to those countries. I actually think that by removing all the middle men in the industry field, that healthcare would be one area where the Government may be slightly more efficient than keeping things private. However, I do think the quality of care would go down as the demand from free health care goes up. I would like to see a program where everyone has free base care, and you can pay for priority service (similar to Canada's system).
I believe in having a capitalist society with social programs that provide a reasonable safety net. However, this does not work in a globalized society where we are the only ones paying ridiculous pricing.
Edit: Another problem with the ACA is it required insurance to provide good coverage that was affordable, but only to the employee of the employer (and most small employers are exempt). So most companies have low cost insurance for employees, and for a family it is astronomical. I pay $25 a month for me. If I add my family (two other people) it goes up to $1100 a month!