Can someone explain to me simply (and I’m assuming the answer to that is “no”), why they can’t force the insurance companies to compete with each other on price. That would seem to be the obvious “free market republican” thing to do, and a prerequisite for removing the fat subsidy to the insurance companies that they’re currently trying to remove.

Because insurance doesn’t work like a normal product or good.

What ends up happening is they charge as much as they possibly can. The book “an American sickness” explains all the problems if you’re interested.

The ACA was never going to be great. It was the best that could get passed.

It wasn’t the best that could get passed. The Dems had a super majority during Obama’s 1st two years and could have gotten us Medicare for all, but Rahm Emmanuel blocked it.

Rahm wasn’t the bad guy. He was one of many bad guys. The list of Democrats (politicians, not voters) who were actually for Medicare for all was smaller than the list who were actually against it. Not because it would be bad policy, but because $$$$.