i was young but i remember how my 19 y/old sibling couldn't get coverage bc he had a "pre-existing condition" (i.e. addiction) -- & therefore had no way to treat his "pre-existing condition"!!! health insurance companies could literally say "oh ur sick? not our problem, have fun being sick forever!"

YES! Aww the 90s

Pregnancy was a pre existing condition.

Omg don't remind me I rented mine too. It had a big hard sided case 😪

It's mandatory

The fights I had on the phone advocating for my employees' health coverage were outrageous. Parents who had kids with genetic syndromes. Older employees with cancer. Increasing the number of roadblocks to care was their strategy (that, and increasing the reserves they could invest and keep.)

Don’t forget lifetime maximums , even on employer plans. I would have been uninsurable by age 31 without ACA because of two hugely expensive medical emergencies. The only only reason I was able to have kids was ACA

-People with pre-existing conditions or who had a spouse/kids with a pre-existing condition were essentially handcuffed to the company because they could not afford to switch insurance plans.

-Carve outs for mental health care and caps/limits on coverage (which led to many people not getting mental health coverage)
-Carve outs and caps/limits for specific diagnoses (like HIV/Aids) which meant that people suffered and died without healthcare

I own a small business. I would never have been able to do so before ACA, because I wouldn't have been able to purchase individual healthcare. The individual insurance market was almost non-existent, and exorbitant.

ACA allows single women to own small businesses