Self employed buddy and his wife had been with the same insurance company for over a decade. It was kind of like they had banked a bunch of premiums.
Their plan got cancelled because it wasn't ACA compliant.
First year with the new company she had a serious injury. Of course they were paying more in premiums than the old policy and they had a higher deductible.
That company withdrew and she was still having operations. At least under the ACA she was covered for a pre-existing condition.
Another year goes by and yep, that company withdrew and yep, she's still having operations. But at least with the new company she's covered for a pre-existing condition.
If coverage for pre-existing conditions goes away they're on the hook for a $35k operation (which is hopefully the last one). And given the high deductibles they're stretched pretty thin as it is.
So yanking ACA completely would just about ruin them. Yeah, they might be able to get into some special risk pool and maybe that would be a better deal but my guess is that the premiums would ruin them as well.
Of course insurance companies having to cover pre-existing conditions is one of the reasons premiums keep going through the roof for everyone but my buddy sure wasn't the cause of his original insurance company going away.
Before ObamaCare, what happened to the insured when their insurance company went out of business, bankrupt, closed doors?
Covering pre-existing conditions = welfare, not insurance. Life is full of hard stories, and this is the type of thing that happens when the government acts lawlessly.