https://youtube.com/watch?v=1X0ggKZn0AY
Charles Krauthammer said that the way the debate is going over health care, a single-payer system is in our future:
I think historically speaking we are at the midpoint. We had seven years of Obamacare, a change in expectations, and I would predict that in less than seven years, we will be in a single-payer system. I think that’s the great irony of this. Obamacare failed at every level. Politically, the Democrats were crushed over six years and four elections, where as you say, they lost seats in the house, Senate, governorships, largely because of Obamacare. It failed on the ground, as was pointed out earlier. The insurers are in a dead spiral. Obamacare exchanges are collapsing. You’ve had these exchanges, community exchanges, completely disintegrating. But the irony is in the end, I think Obamacare wins the day because it changed expectations.
Look at the terms of the debate. Republicans are not arguing the free market anymore. They have sort of accepted the fact that the electorate sees health care as not just any commodity. It’s not like purchasing a steak or a car. It is something people now have a sense that government ought to guarantee.
WALLACE: It’s a right.
KRAUTHAMMER: Right. And because of that, even Republicans are trying to say “Oh, we’re not going to lose that many. Oh yes, you will be covered if you have a pre-existing condition.” The terms of debate are entirely on the grounds of the liberal argument that everybody ought to have it — once that happens, you’re going to end up with a single-payer.”
WALLACE: How do you get to single-payer? Are you saying that the Senate is not going to pass this replace-and-replace plan?”
KRAUTHAMMER: In the short run, I think the Senate is not going to accept the House plan. It will come up with the plan of its own, they’ll go to conference — who knows where it’s going to end up, but it’s going to be a rickety arrangement. It is likely that Republicans are going to suffer at the polls. If that happens, you’re going to get a sea change in opinion. And then there are only two ways to go: to a radically individualist system where the market rules, or to single-payer, and the country is not going to go back to radical individualist.