Retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), who helped oversee the drafting of the Affordable Care Act, lamented in a recent interview that the law had become compromised amid the political turmoil that surrounded its passage.
He also expressed regret that the law didn't include liberal policies like a single-payer health care system or a public health insurance plan, as many had hoped it would in the early stages.
“We had the votes in ’09. We had a huge majority in the House, we had 60 votes in the Senate," Harkin told The Hill, saying that the first Congress of President Barack Obama's administration should have passed “single-payer right from the get go or at least put a public option (which) would have simplified a lot.”
“We had the votes to do that and we blew it,” he said.
. . . .
“So I look back and say we should have either done it the correct way or not done anything at all.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
Some of us were saying the same thing at the time. Taking the focus off of mending the economy, which is what most people wanted at the time, might have been worth it had we at least passed a progressive health insurance reform law. Instead, other than the useful expansion of Medicaid*, we got warmed over Heritage Foundation policy.
Nearly 5 years, and scores of lost congressional and legislative seats later, it's as good a time as any for regrets. Political tone deafness and weak policy makes for a bad combination.
* Even that has been tarnished with the administration's approval of a "private option" for the expansion of Medicaid in Arkansas, and possibly in other states.