Personally, I still hope for Wyden-Bennett to pass on a bipartisan basis.
I'm pretty sure you're the only person that even cares about that bill anymore.
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The Democrats best path forward would be to pass a comprehensive revision of ObamaCare to reinvigorate the system. Repeal the stupid stuff like the Cadillac Tax, Medical Device Tax, 30 hour work week, and requiring maternity coverage for old people. Then add in the public option, increase individual mandate fine so that it's actually more expensive than the average insurance plan, and preferably add basic dental services to the essential benefits list.
Even if we pretend that Single-Payer isn't socialist, there's still the fact that it carries a GIGANTIC price tag. The public cannot afford a YUGE tax increase, and ballooning the deficit is never the answer. Single Payer may be fun to think about, but it's not a realistic or american solution and never will be.
What exactly constitutes an "American" solution? That's a convenient shibboleth to throw around, that single-payer is "unAmerican" in some nebulous sense.
And how do other countries manage single payer without having deficits blow up? And also, we manage wars and tax cuts and their attendant effects on the deficit just fine.
