Sorry, but I don't buy the "But we couldn't have gotten single-payer" defense

[karynnj]

153. Did you think it a random process?

The various committees with responsibility on the issue - the Finance and the HELP committee in the Senate and at least one committee in the HOUSE were tasked to develop a plan that met the broad goals.

The committees - and especially the Chairs - first worked with their staffs, who are people who are experts in writing law put together the basic plans, identifying all the areas they needed to get information from various experts - including many academics and public policy people. Each member of the committee also had staff, whose expertise was in this area.

Ted Kennedy spent much of 2008 in DC working on the outline of what became the HELP bill. Baucus also led efforts before 2009 started to work on a bill as well. Baucus had the responsibility of working on the cost and tax measures - where Kennedy did much of the policy stuff.

Both men had worked with their peers for years. That - not any nefarious reason - is why they did spend any time investigating the advantages of a single payer system. (In fact, Kennedy did not have to - he wrote a bill that was a single payer plan in 2005 - when NOTHING could pass because the Republicans controlled the House, Senate and the Presidency. )

Other Senators - on the committee or off - worked with them on various alternatives. This included Bernie Sanders getting funding for community centers in ACA.

Nothing ever starts with a clean slate - and all ideas, practical or not, given the same scrutiny. If you look at the fact that the bill as written passed by the skin of its teeth and no one voted against it because it was not progressive enough, it is very likely that they DID write the best bill they could pass.