Right now, many people do not have insurance through their company and they cannot afford decent individual plans. Even if the companies get off the hook for the next year, at least now individuals can get their health insurance purchases subsidized. So now those making only 8.50/hr would only have to pay like $50-60/mo for decent insurance that won't fuck them over due to preexisting conditions (or other shit) That same person would qualify for medicaid if they had children. Also, if a single person was making the federal minimum wage, they would qualify for medicaid even if they do not have kids.
Even though I won't qualify for any subsidies (at least not at this current moment, but what will happen in the future) and my premiums will be slightly higher (based on the calculators I've seen), the plans are slightly better than what I currently have AND there will be laws that prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions or raising rates past a certain level. Where as right this moment, if I was to get very sick, I'd be at the mercy of the insurance company. At least the health care laws make it so that no matter what, I should be able to afford insurance no matter what my health condition is (even if the premiums do go up a couple hundred dollars more, at least I'd have insurance and that's cheaper than paying $100,000 out of pocket)
Also, the more healthy people who buy insurance, the lower the premiums... At least in theory.
I mean, that's my understanding of how it's all supposed to work. If I'm wrong about anything, I'd like to hear about how and why.
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