Note that at its height 115,000 Americans are said to have had pre-existing health issues that made it difficult for them to get "affordable" insurance

Note that this 115,000 number likely seems to be an over estimate because after the Obama administration had a hard time getting people to enter the program it cut the insurance premiums so much that it was actually cheaper for people with pre-existing conditions to get insurance than for healthy individuals.

Still the issue is question is if you want to help out 115,000 people, why not provide those individuals with a subsidy rather than changing health insurance for everyone?