I gotta say... it's a hoot to watch y'all go round and round on this.
Your assignment for tomorrow is a 3 paragraph essay on "market failure"
If you are implying the market has failed re: health care, then you are way off base. We have NOT ever had a market-driven HC system.
Maybe an educated guess, but you've already said that the numbers are bogus and that logic doesn't apply. Thus, your read on the situation can't be quantified.
There are a number of reasons costs AND buyers could be going up...like there being a disproportionate number of sick people being amongst the new premium payers.
Democracy is messy and it appears that there is no stomach in the electorate for denying folks health coverage because they have pre-existing conditions. The chief evidence of this is the inability of the GOP to pass an ACA repeal.
Time is your friend. Impulse is your enemy. -John Bogle