[fellowniusmonk]

Yes, I mean I was young and a republican at the time but even I was pissed that Joe Liberman voted single payer down.

My perspective at the time which was naive/wrong was that we should either deregulate completely (which was a foolish perspective from my youth) or switch to single payer like France's system where doctors stay independent (unlike the UK's NHS at the time) and we just shoot the health insurance industry.

It was very obvious to anyone who had regular dealings with our system that it was opaque, cruel, insane and a premium cost for an inferior experience.

Not to mention the history of insurance companies losing lawsuits because as a "cost saving tactic" they would deny claims by default so people would die before procedures were approved.

From a cost efficacy and perverse incentives perspective it was clear that things had to change but that the ACA as it was passed would be easy to pick away at and sabotage by insurance industry and health provider conglomerates, and that is exactly what has happened.

Still the protections in place are FAR better than what we had.

It was very common at the time to hear even Republicans refer to themselves as "wage slaves" because of how beholden the populace was to corporate insurance and how it effected career choices.