Warren says single-payer 'at top of list' of any new system
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"If we're talking about tearing down the health care system and starting over, then I think every option needs to be on the table, and single-payer sure ought to be at the top of the list," U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Warren said.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren suggested Monday that the United States should consider single-payer health care if Congress were to upend the health care system and start from scratch, a position that has Republicans accusing the senator of flip flopping.
After reports that Warren told a Framingham town hall on Friday that she supports "progressive health care options like single-payer," the senator was asked to clarify her stance on single-payer after addressing a pro-business luncheon Monday.
"If the question is can we make the Affordable Care Act better or we can find some Republican colleagues to do that, absolutely, we should do what we can to improve it," she said. She added, "If we're talking about tearing down the health care system and starting over, then I think every option needs to be on the table, and single-payer sure ought to be at the top of the list."
Under a single-payer system the government, rather than private insurers, would oversee a health care financing system in which care and treatment would still be offered by the private sector. Single-payer is similar to the way health care is structured in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Seizing upon her comments, the Massachusetts Republican Party blasted Warren for waging a "campaign to appease national far-left activists ... with an eye toward advancing her political ambitions.
The GOP pointed to comments Warren made in 2008 that appeared to support a single-payer system and her opposition to such a health care system while running for Senate in 2012, and said her latest remarks complete a "flip-flop-flip" on the issue.
"With this latest flip-flop on single-payer, Sen. Warren is demonstrating more clearly than ever that she's more focused on appeasing national liberal activists than advancing the interests of the Commonwealth," MassGOP Chairman Kirsten Hughes said in a statement.
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