I am old enough to remember families (my own included) being destroyed by this same reality pre-ACA. Insurance being tied to your job was a pre-aca reality.
I was born with heart defects, pre-aca it was literally impossible for me to get private, non-corporate coverage, I tried for years.
At least denying coverage for pre-existing conditions means that getting diagnosed between jobs isn't a complete family destroying death sentence like it was for mine.
The ACA ossified the existing system a bit, but employer-provided care was the norm before the ACA. That or just not having any insurance, especially for young people working for small companies.
ACA did not ossify it. If anything, ACA allowed non employers to purchase insurance. Previously, the options were to work for a deep pocketed employer or just not have insurance.
Plans that would cover pre-existing conditions was one very important change for a lot of people. What ACA didn't really solve was the "affordable" part for people who aren't fairly high income. Between the marketplaces in most states and COBRA for those in between jobs or near 65, insurance is available but it's expensive with no one else chipping in a big chunk of the premium.
Nothing will solve the affordable part other than massive wealth transfers (which ACA did, but obviously not massive enough), and increased supply of healthcare (more docs, hospitals, medication manufacturers - or medicines in public domain), and tort reform.
But ACA did what it could with the political compromises that had to be made at the time. It provided out of pocket maximums, maximum age rating factor (age 64 only pays 3x age 21), and required coverage for all applicants (removing risk of disqualification from pre existing condition).
It is unfortunate the mandate was repealed and state level participation in functioning marketplaces was politically hampered.
Yeah, even if you just arbitrarily chop 20-30% off of US healthcare costs--which aren't just from the pockets of fairly low margin insurance companies, the money still needs to come from somewhere. So maybe a random individual can get a decent insurance plan for $5K/year with a family plan something north of $10K without a company paying. I expect a lot of people would still not find that reasonable and would want someone else to pay for it.
