The reason the bare bones plans were banned were because many of them had rules that really screwed consumers. No one wants to think they'll be the one that get

The reason the bare bones plans were banned were because many of them had rules that really screwed consumers. No one wants to think they'll be the one that gets cancer, but people do, and when you have plans that practice rescission, or lifetime maxes (after which they don't pay for anything), or annual maxes, then you've got the case where all of a sudden you are going bankrupt and losing your house due to treatment costs. The main political/democratic value codified into the law is that no one should have to go bankrupt from treatment costs. That means outlawing those practices, which meant a lot of plans no longer qualified. That was the moral argument part that Republicans generally disagreed with. We're all paying a little more so that a family we don't know doesn't go bankrupt from a family member getting cancer. (And we're all also paying a little less due to other parts of the ACA.)