Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the most self answerable question in the history of the world.
Explain how the govt would cover pre-existing conditions. And if you don't like O-care, you certainly would not like single payer. So explain what type of legislation would have been better than O-care.
Never fall for a false dichotomy. Now that we are in this mess. With anti free market exchanges and prices designed to extract the maximum from middle class and up families.... We have to consider how to improve what we have. There are myriad solutions. One would be the government giving out vouchers for base level care and then allowing citizens to purchase better plans. The insurance companies would have to compete around the nation for the vouchers and the right to offer upgraded plans. Government (State and Federal) could negotiate a separate per existing poll with the states since in the end they pretty much cover all those without insurance in hospital emergency rooms anyway. This is only one solution. There are many others. However the key to any solution would be to make sure that the insurance companies are not paying of the politicians. Not during the design and not during the execution. They must be competing.
Hold on to your MAGA hats, I agree with TJ. The govt should ensure a minimal healthcare plan is available to all Americans. This should be done as an automatic enrollment into Medicaid and then we can pay for any upgraded plan we choose. This is how it is done in Israel.