If you happen to homeless, by the way, then you don't have a permanent residence and you are ineligible for assistance.

Selling the pre-Obamacare status quo as acceptable is simply not credible. Obamacare isn't great either, but moving forward from the status quo was absolutely needed.

No. I am talking about regular low-income people. As an example, I had an aunt and uncle with 4 children. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer. No insurance. Had to sell some land. Had to dispose of their car. Oldest child had to leave University. Other property was also disposed of prior to getting medical assistance.

By the time he died, they had lost their home and nearly everything they owned.

Cancer is a toughie. I have a very close friend in her early 40s that got cancer and blew through her $1,000,000 policy limit. She worked part time doing hair and makeup for music stars, but she received about $5,000 a month in child support and her house and cars were paid for. I took 2 months off work to stay with her through one round of chemo. Really sad situation made tougher by now having several hundred thousand in unpaid medical bills hanging over her head.

There will always be bad examples, but these are the exception and not the rule.

The world is an imperfect place made more difficult by many that make bad choices when young.