I think you bring up some good points about some of the other reasons health care costs have gone up. Those are some of the things that needed to be fixed or improved with Obamacare. However, I disagree with the following statement:
"...those increases were 100% due to Obamacare. Before Obamacare you could purchase an 80/20 plan with a $1-2K deductible, now, companies are not allowed to even offer such plans."
Again, I know from personal experience that higher deductibles were a mainstay of plans in the private market long before they hit elsewhere - or before the ACA was a thing. As for Obamacare not being allowed to offer such plans? I'm 100% sure that's not true because I had one myself - under Obamacare. (Right up until I was able to sign up for Medicare...  ) And BTW, my premiums went DOWN about $300/per month (without subsidies) when I switched from the private market to the ACA via the CA exchanges. In fact, I was able to keep the very same plan, same doctor.
I know that wasn't the case everywhere. But in some cases, people had sub-standard plans that would have left them in a financial crisis if they'd needed major medical coverage for a serious illness or accident. Let's face it, health insurance is a very complex market and there's no solution that's going to be perfect or that everyone will love. But I don't believe throwing out the baby with the bathwater is a solution, either.
BTW, for what it's worth, I believe the concepts behind the ACA were originally a Republican, conservative idea, developed by the Heritage Foundation, if memory serves... If those on the Right weren't so dead-set on opposing anything and everything that Obama proposed or supported, but instead got involved and offered suggestions on how to improve it, we might have ended up with a better solution...
I'm with you, though, about corporate greed and various entities involved in many aspects of the healthcare field (like 'big pharma') taking advantage of customers!
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