All states offer Medicaid below the income threshold. Those that have not accepted the expansion payments from the federal government have a much lower income cutoff than those that have accepted it.

Private health insurance is going to cost you ballpark $400/month, provide no coverage for any preexisting conditions, provide no coverage for your family members (just the enrolling individual), you will typically pay the first $10,000 or so each year before your insurer covers any of the costs, and if you end up needing to use it a lot they will cancel you the next year.

Affordable Care Act coverage will cost about the same but cover preexisting conditions, you can usually cap your own cost for regular checkups to $20, and they won’t cancel you the following year unless the insurance company leaves the marketplace entirely.

Private employer provided coverage varies wildly depending on the size of the employer (because they have more leverage in negotiating with insurance companies) and the employer’s own ideas.

Indeed. Prior to 2010 - it was a roll of the dice. If insurance wasn't provided through your work, you had to be lucky enough to live in a State with decent laws preventing some of these predatory insurance practices. Back then, the uninsured rate was close to 19%. Almost 1 in 5 Americans.

Today, that rate is 8.4%. Which hails the victory of the ACA because "91.6% of Americans have insurance" sounds nice. And compared to where we were 13 years ago, it is nice.

In reality, we have 28 million uninsured people, many of whom are children. There's a long way to go.

While I'm personally satisfied with my level of coverage and standard of care, I don't understand how we can comfortably accept a society that bankrupts our most vulnerable residents for being sick. I'm baffled how this wasn't already solved or mostly resolved in my lifetime. Or at least seeing more states take on the Hawaii or Massachusetts health care models.

My partner and I pay $200 for the ~$1800/mo healthcare plan through their employer. There was a fully-covered option but the deductibles are so low on this plan it's incredible.

Yes, because you would be without insurance. A person can buy insurance on an exchange and it is similar in price as employer sponsored insurance - you just have to pay all of it. Typically an employer pays for at least some of the insurance if it is a benefit they offer.

It is worth noting that the fine is captured as part of a person's taxes, so it can be a bit obvuscated. Although in typing this, I vaguely recall a SCOTUS ruling that said the fine wasn't allowed.

It is actually more wild than all of this even! Each state has additional rules/requirements beyond Obamacare. So what is covered in Washington State may not be covered in Texas.

If you need help sorting through insurance, reach out to me - I've done a lot of it as a business owner with two special needs kids.

Apparently it is still upheld at the state level in 5 states.