[JimRed]

It used to be called CHARITY. You freely gave to help those in need. It was voluntary, not forced. Then the left decided to force it.

Those with preexisting conditions and a lot of the healthy young people would just pay the penalty for not having the insurance; way cheaper than buying the insurance. Then they were covered by all of us.

[kaila]

People with preexisting conditions prior to Obamacare could not get insurance without having group employee coverage.
If they had any assets at all, their assets were seized if they could not pay their medical bills. However, the losers of the world could get away with not paying medical bills because there were no assets to seize. Lack of insurance always hit the middle class with preexisitng conditions.
Obamacare ruined coverage in my state of Washington. Insurance was required to cover people with preexisting conditions if they had no lapse in insurance coverage. If I got laid off, and Cobra ended, all insurance companies in this state were required to accept you even if you had preexisting conditions. The coverage was quite reasonably priced.
When Ocare came into effect, all that got thrown away. Now, insurance is expensive with $7000 deductibles, which is a catastrophic policy.
All Obamacare did was stick it to the middle class, because it was an expansion of Medicaid. Heroin abusers, lowlifes all get great coverage. The rest of us are paying the cost and delaying care.