But that doesn't mean the ACA saved their lives, it means ACA allowed them to continue with their startups rather than find coverage working for any of a plethora of big businesses. That is obviously still a good thing, but to claim that those founders literally would have died without the ACA seems misleading at best.

Maybe they couldn't get a job with one of those big businesses, due to lack of credentials, or maybe the disease prevented it.

There are thousands of people whose lives were saved by this. Nitpicking over on example seems rather unproductive.

Pre-existing conditions were covered before the ACA?

Pre-existing conditions prevented many from getting health care.

Pre-existing conditions

Yep, you nailed it. Had it not been for ACA, making the career leap to co-founder would have been incredibly difficult. Two years later, it's a honor to be able to provide insurance to our employees.

My wife works for a very small business -- five people, to be exact. They get group insurance through the company providing their payroll processing. Not by going directly to the exchange. It seems like that should be an option any founder of a small business could take advantage of?

Yes, the group insurance through a payroll processor is a great solution. That's what we do now.

The caveat is that it only works if you're collecting a paycheck, but not if you're bootstrapping from savings.