People like to ignore that fact. I served on the board of directors for a critical access hospital beginning a couple of years before ACA. A conservative bunch, and the seminars I attended nation wide were attended by conservative people--mostly trustees and management. The clear consensus was that change in health care delivery and insurance was coming, whether providers and insurers wanted it or not. Health care (and, consequently, insurance) expenses were increasing at a yearly rate that patents simply could not keep up with. Increasing numbers were without insurance, and more and more people were taking very high deductibles in order to afford what they did have. Out of country options for major surgery were giving our providers competition because of high costs (and the care was provided by Drs. educated in our best schools and in facilities that were well equipped). These discussions of change were among people who would have benefited financially from the status quo, but they knew change was not optional.
Republicans never lifted a finger to address this need on a national scale, choosing instead to either use scare tactics (death squads) or pretend the status quo was just fine. And for the 1%ers the party serves, it was.
