HCA gave alot of companies that offered a decent comprehensive health plan the opportunity to switch over to HSA plans where they pass cost increases onto employees in the form of higher deductibles. Obama coined the term "cadillac plan" and made it an elitist thing to offer a low cost HMO to employees when those poor huddled masses he represented didn't get anything.
Many people now have a catastrophic health care plan where a handful of things are covered by HCA by mandate but you pay for everything else full price until you hit your deductible, which I would guess for most family plans is any where from $5K - 8K. When I was in college, you could get a plan like that for $50 a month (minus the HCA mandates of course)
Obama ruined employer provided health care and at the same time created a new "tax" on working people in the form of health care deductibles.
This was all planned in an effort to give health care to the people who don't work and was punitive for Americans not allowing him to push thru national single provider plan where Uncle Sam manages your health.
There are definite downfalls to employer provided health care but when that became a widely available perk for the middle class in the 50's/60's, health care was affordable. Now no one can afford it and Obama's bright idea was to give it to the poor as a subsidized plan while the people who work get to pay a bigger chunk for it out of their own pocket.
I hate him for that.
