I use elevated feeders, and they certainly help out my dogs.
If their food dishes were on the ground, they'd hack and splutter their food/water trying to get it down. The option of lifting their heads before they tried to swallow their food/water just didn't enter their minds. LOL Very hard to get food up instead of down.
As far as bloat goes, I think that has more to do with dogs eating and drinking too fast, and/or being exercised moderately or extensively immediately after eating/drinking. But it's not hard to prevent them eating/drinking too fast or too much at once. Even something as simple as placing an ball or something into the food dish can slow things down, or just putting out a little water at a time, not allowing them to guzzle too much in one go.
And the same as us humans, didn't your mother ever tell you to let your food settle before you exercise? Same concept, I tell my dogs to "take it easy" for a bit after they've eaten.
