Sen. John Kennedy said states shouldn't be able to set up single-payer health care systems because he doesn't think people will like them. (Photo: Jonathan Bachman via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON ― Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Tuesday that he’s so opposed to the idea of a single-payer health care system that he’s trying to block California or any other Democratic state from setting up such a system.
“I think single payer is a mistake and I think it would be bad for a blue state,” Kennedy told reporters on Capitol Hill. “That’s part of my job in the United States Senate, to make value judgments like that.”
Kennedy is attempting to insert the issue into Republicans’ latest bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Under the so-called Cassidy-Graham legislation, states would be given block grants to set up their own health care systems. While the fate of the bill is unclear, the Louisiana senator seeks to add an amendment that would prevent states from using federal money for a single-payer system.
He said he sees no contradiction between his party’s strong advocacy of states’ rights, and his effort to strip states of the ability to set up the types of programs they want.
“I love, I believe in states’ rights,” Kennedy told HuffPost. “But I also believe in the supremacy clause, and I believe the United States Congress has a legal and a moral obligation to, on occasion, set down national rules.”
But isn’t this just a case of his not liking a certain policy that millions of others in, say, California might want for themselves?
“Well, if ― yes,” he conceded. “I feel strongly about it. And I’m in the United States Senate and I’m supposed to do what I think is right. And that’s what I think is right.”
A single-payer system, also known as “Medicare for all,” is one in which a public agency organizes health care financing but leaves delivery of services to the private sector. Public support for the concept has grown in recent years, although it’s nowhere near becoming a reality at the national level.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recently introduced single-payer legislation that would give government-run health insurance to everybody in the country. The bill picked up a number of Democratic cosponsors in the Senate and it has excited the progressive base, but it isn’t going anywhere.
Kennedy said he doesn’t think Americans would be happy with a single-payer system if they actually had it.
“A single-payer system won’t work and it will break us, OK? We won’t be able to afford it,” he said. “That’s how I vote. It doesn’t mean if you disagree, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It just means you’re wrong.”
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1912
Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he unsuccessfully tries to ride his progressive Bull Moose Party back to the White House.
1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt favors creating national health insurance amid the Great Depression but decides to push for Social Security first.
1942
Roosevelt establishes wage and price controls during World War II. Businesses can't attract workers with higher pay so they compete through added benefits, including health insurance, which grows into a workplace perk.
1945
President Harry Truman calls on Congress to create a national insurance program for those who pay voluntary fees. The American Medical Association denounces the idea as "socialized medicine" and it goes nowhere.
1960
John F. Kennedy makes health care a major campaign issue but as president can't get a plan for the elderly through Congress.
1965
President Lyndon B. Johnson's legendary arm-twisting and a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats lead to creation of two landmark government health programs: Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.
1974
President Richard Nixon wants to require employers to cover their workers and create federal subsidies to help everyone else buy private insurance. The Watergate scandal intervenes.
1976
President Jimmy Carter pushes a mandatory national health plan, but economic recession helps push it aside.
1986
President Ronald Reagan signs COBRA, a requirement that employers let former workers stay on the company health plan for 18 months after leaving a job, with workers bearing the cost.
1988
Congress expands Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit and catastrophic care coverage. It doesn't last long. Barraged by protests from older Americans upset about paying a tax to finance the additional coverage, Congress repeals the law the next year.
1993
President Bill Clinton puts first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of developing what becomes a 1,300-page plan for universal coverage. It requires businesses to cover their workers and mandates that everyone have health insurance. The plan meets Republican opposition, divides Democrats and comes under a firestorm of lobbying from businesses and the health care industry. It dies in the Senate.
1997
Clinton signs bipartisan legislation creating a state-federal program to provide coverage for millions of children in families of modest means whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid.
2003
President George W. Bush persuades Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare in a major expansion of the program for older people.
2008
Hillary Clinton promotes a sweeping health care plan in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She loses to Barack Obama, who has a less comprehensive plan.
2009
President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress spend an intense year ironing out legislation to require most companies to cover their workers; mandate that everyone have coverage or pay a fine; require insurance companies to accept all comers, regardless of any pre-existing conditions; and assist people who can't afford insurance.
2010
With no Republican support, Congress passes the measure, designed to extend health care coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people. Republican opponents scorned the law as "Obamacare."
2012
On a campaign tour in the Midwest, Obama himself embraces the term "Obamacare" and says the law shows "I do care."
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