The real reason healthcare costs are so high.

While I agree that the ACA needs some tweaking, I do believe it did a lot of good. It allowed parents to keep children on their policies until age 26 regardless of if they were in school, which helped with the fact that young adults who aren't in college are typically doing jobs where employer-sponsored health insurance isn't offered. It mandated that people couldn't be turned down for pre-existing conditions, and that insurance companies couldn't jack up the prices on these folks. It also mandated that things such as pre- and post-natal care, birth control, etc. were covered, as these are typically things that get eliminated to cut corners and offer cheap policies while not making it clear up front...causing people to only find out when they need the coverage that what they need isn't covered.

There are a lot of people blaming the ACA for price hikes. While the ACA may have played a SMALL role in rate hikes, this is only because it enabled more people to become enrolled on insurance policies, and thus revealed the TRUE reason that healthcare is so expensive!

1) Big Pharmaceutical. These folks have been jacking up the costs of prescriptions for some time. Slowly, the availability of generics had decreased (the cheaper options), leaving folks to have to purchase branded versions of their meds for often twice the cost of a generic counterpart. Pricing of said meds have also gone out of control...just look at the whole Epi-pen fiasco. The pharms are pushing doctors to prescribe the newer meds under the guise that they "work better" and are "more modern", when this isn't always the case. For example, when I get bronchitis maybe once every 6-8 years, the only antibiotic that works for me is amoxicillin. A full course of generic amoxicillin before insurance usually costs me around $5, meaning insurance never kicks in. What the doctors try to push on me...Z-Pak, or whatever new "miracle" antibiotic is out there that I'm not willing to experiment with because I actually want to feel better...has a copay of $40, and then insurance pays some amount that is unknown to me. I literally have to fight for the lower cost option!

2) Healthcare Providers. Have you ever had to visit the ER or stay in the hospital, and took a good look at the itemization? For the price of one band-aid or q-tip, you could buy an entire box or package...or even an entire case! Doctor comes in and talks to you for 15 minutes...you get charged $200+?! I get that he spent some 8+ years in school and has a vast amount of cool knowledge in his head, but really? For 15 minutes of his time?! Oh, and if he actually has to do something, that price per 15 minutes skyrockets! Okay...so part of that goes to the nurse who actually has to administer the shot or who takes your vitals before the doctor even comes in...but seriously, that nurse doesn't get all that much. I also get that there are overhead costs, but if you pay attention to that itemization, you will find they have charged you fees for all that crap, too. It's insane!

3) Insurance Companies. Okay...so if you take into account #1 and #2, and the fact that the insurance company still has to pay it's own employees and admin costs while still making some profit (because it IS business, not a non-profit), you will see how having to pay out for more people would cause them to have to raise their rates. However, the insurance companies are greedy as hell about their profits, so they don't just raise their rates, they jack that shit up! Rates on steroids! The insurance company CEOs really enjoy their big bonuses and salaries.

You see, the business of insurance is really a gamble on you not actually making a claim, so the more claims people make, the more they jack up the rates!

So, while I believe that work needs to done, the only way that we are truly going to make healthcare more affordable is to put some controls on these folks! One way to do that would be through a single payer, seeing as then the government could set the max amount they would be willing to pay for said meds and procedures, and everyone is just going to have to deal with it. Now, single payer also has it's flaws, so the trick is to look at all the options available, and try to put together a plan that helps the most people the most effectively. That is not an easy task! That will take cooperation and sharing of ideas from both sides of the isle, and the most recent failure moves us a bit closer to that. When the rules change after September 30th, and 62 votes will be needed in the Senate to pass a plan, both sides will have no choice but to work together for the people!