I wish people wouldn't be so rude to those who lose out under the ACA.

[JDPriestly]

84. Insurance is always a pooling of resources.

Some pay for their homeowners insurance and file a large claim the first year they have it.

Others who are lucky and careful like me pay for a quarter of a century and never file a claim.

It's been a long, long time since I had to file even a small claim related to driving, but I still pay my car insurance. I don't want to cause a loss to someone else that I can't cover.

And I don't want to have a sizable loss that I can't cover for myself.

So, that is the way it is with insurance, and health insurance is no exception. Most people pay a lot more for their car, homeowners or renters' or professional, etc. insurance than they ever receive back. That's the purpose of insurance. Pooling resources so that the premiums of others cover your costs JUST IN CASE . . . .and your premiums cover their costs JUST IN CASE.

If in a couple of years, someone now complaining about paying more for insurance is diagnosed with some form of cancer or has a terrible accident or discovers he has diabetes realizes he or she could not have bought insurance prior to Obamacare, that person will be happy to pay a little more for Obamacare than to be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

The cut-offs for subsidies are cruel, I agree. But that is typical of all government and a lot of private assistance.
In fact, that is one of the ironies of the attempts to cut Social Security benefits. The average monthly payment just barely keeps a lot of seniors above the poverty level. Just reduce the benefits a slight amount and a lot more seniors will be eligible for things like assistance in paying their rent and even food stamps.

So that aspect of the system is not perfect. But are you really gaining by getting cheap insurance when you are male and young and don't need much medical care or advice only to discover that at the age of 55 when you really start needing medical care for all those little things you ignored when you were young and felt good, you can't get coverage or, if you can, it costs you some astronomical, unaffordable sum?

This is why so many Americans have financial trouble. They can't think clearly in terms of costs and benefits.