Axios

The threat of counties with no Affordable Care Act insurance options next year has faded, now that the Ohio Department of Insurance has found a health insurance company to serve the last county that was at risk. Roughly 23% of people buying plans on the ACA marketplaces will have one insurer to pick from next year, and the rest will have at least two choices, according to Bloomberg.

But filling the "bare counties" doesn't solve all of the shortcomings for people who get their health coverage outside the employer system. Here are pros and cons of the ACA marketplaces as they stand now.

Although the GOP's plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act industry taxes died with the party's health care bill, it's conventional wisdom that some of the taxes will still be delayed. But there's no plan to do so yet.

Lobbying campaigns to repeal or delay the health insurance tax and the medical device tax are ramping up, yet there's no clear vehicle for Congress to take action. Well-wired lobbyists and Hill aides say the appetite for doing anything major on health care isn't really there.

"It is a have-to-get-done that's really hard to get done," said one lobbyist.

Brand-name pharmaceutical companies and health insurers increased their profits in the second quarter of this year, while hospitals and drug distributors had a more difficult run, according to a review of financial documents for 58 publicly traded health care companies.

Between the lines: Drug companies continue to raise their list prices for branded drugs despite the public furor, so they naturally maintained their status as the most profitable sector in health care. Insurers also collected higher profits because fewer people are going to the hospital or doctor, which results in more money staying in their pockets.