You might have seen the ACA differently from my perspective. As a small business owner I always bought insurance on the "individual market", shit coverage that outpaced my mortgage cost after I passed 55.

The ACA cut my premium to $169 a month (2014) for really good coverage, it allowed our few employees to afford plans. When we shopped for group coverage as a business pre ACA we were required to do medical underwriting (pre-existing conditions) and our premiums were set to the "risk" of our sickest employee, far north of what was available on the individual market for worse coverage.

I accidently let my coverage lapse when I was 50 (traveling and missed the bill) they declared me uninsurable because of a hernia I had disclosed. The only way to re-up was to find a different agent/insurer and lie.

If our country were not plagued by Rush, Hannity, Fox, Info-wars, and the like then legislating an intelligent system would be easy. In a country where half the voter's minds have been colonized by the right wing disinformation industry it's close to impossible.