I will respond, in part...
a) due to the anonymous nature of this message board, and your desire for facts to back up some statements, I feel the only facts you would accept are those that unmask the annonimity of the poster by identifying the hospital, location, etc.
b) the very implication that surely one must be lying or making statements pro-ACA because they support the President or democrats, blah, blah, blah, says more about your own political leanings than it does for NURSES making pro-ACA statements. After all, nurses supporting healthcare for all is just such a pretentious politically motivated thing to do and must indicate secret tree-huggin' Obama embracin' liberals...
c) CANCER. Yeah, I had it. I had the great fortune of being employed by the government at the time, so the $749,000 worth of chemo and four surgeries was covered. After I quit my job to go to nursing school, no one in the US would insure me AT ANY PRICE. If I had suffered the misfortune of recurrence, I would not have been covered at all. Now, with the ACA, I pay a modest sum for fantastic insurance and I don't have to worry about being denied care, or losing a job and thus losing healthcare coverage.
d) states that did not participate in the expansion are not doing as well as those that did, so the results are not the same everywhere, and costs are not the same everywhere. The KY system and Ohio systems, for example, are doing incredibly well, and the opt-out states, not so much.
e) Corporate greed is the biggest problem in healthcare, and it has been this way for decades, not because of the ACA. Tip a hat to those who thought profits were more important than wellness--they had a good run, and it will soon be ending.
The ACA is not perfect--even the exceptional UK system is not perfect--but it is a step in a positive direction for millions and millions of people, and it has already saved lives. And I don't care if a republican or democrat started it, I am a nurse and just glad it is here and that the time of kicking the poor and afflicted to the curb for their lack of sufficient funds (or genetic misfortune) is nearing an end.