Conflation is a commonly used rhetorical ploy: combining two things that don't belong together or using one word to imply another when they don't exactly mean the same thing. When the Affordable Care Act was pushed through Congress, advocates conflated health care with health insurance. The act was intended to reform health insurance, not health care. And despite common associations, they aren't the same thing.
A recently filed lawsuit claims the ACA became unconstitutional when Congress set the individual mandate tax to zero as part of the 2017 tax bill. An opposing newspaper headline, “Lawsuit could jeopardize health care for 52 million,” demonstrated both conflation and exaggeration. Assuming the lawsuit is upheld by the Supreme Court and the ACA is struck down, many insurance regulations would disappear, not insurance itself nor the doctors who actually provide the care.
