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John Breslin | Oct 25, 2016

Senate Democrats likely to push for single payer reforms

Senate Democrats are likely to make a fresh bid to include some type of single payer option in any reform of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), particularly if they take control of the chamber and Hillary Clinton wins, opponents of Obamacare argue.

Democrats will probably make a push for the single payer option, which would be a “terrible policy,” according to Jason Pye, director of communications for the conservative FreedomWorks organization.

As individual marketplaces across the country continue to see plans pulling out or premiums rising, criticism of President Barack Obama’s signature legislation is coming from unlikely sources.

At a rally, former President Bill Clinton described it as a “crazy system: here, all of a sudden, 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half.”

However, Bill Clinton later rolled back his criticism, claiming the act did a “world of good” and helped 90 percent of the population to be covered.

“Indeed, Obamacare is a ‘crazy system,’” Pye told Patient Daily. “Obamacare has cost millions of Americans the health insurance that they had and liked, led to narrow provider networks and higher deductibles, caused costly premium increases, and unleashed an army of bureaucrats who dictate what is an acceptable level of coverage.”

In an email answer to questions, Pye said it appears the last people thought about during the consideration of Obamacare, and its implementation, were the patients.

“But a crazy system is what happens when an expansion of government is put ahead of patients, and it will eventually collapse under its own weight,” he said. “The problems the administration is experiencing are unbalanced risk pools, underwhelming enrollment, narrow networks and high deductibles. This is why insurers are leaving the exchanges, which is limiting consumer choice.”

FreedomWorks has warned that Senate Democrats are likely to push for the single payer option as part of any proposed reform.

The organization's CEO, Adam Brandon, has stated that a government-run health insurance program could only hurt the free market.

“(It) is just another example of the government’s desire to grow and control even more aspects of people’s lives,” he said. “Furthermore, a public option is hardly an option -- millions of Americans would be compelled to join an insurance plan that they may not want. An insurance program run by the government, and unaccountable to free market forces is a 1930s solution to a 21st Century problem.”

Brandon continued by responding to Hillary Clinton's comment that Obamacare “needs fixing.”

“This law is broken beyond ‘fixing,’” he said. “Congress should repeal Obamacare and start over with patient-centered reforms.”

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