Another Major Democrat Suggests that Obamacare Was a Mistake

Perhaps Democrats are learning that pushing an opaque and unpopular bill that has done none of the obvious things that would have brought down healthcare costs was less than ideal. The latest to voice his doubts over his party’s actions is retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). Harkin was one of Obamacare’s co-authors.

The Iowa Democrat who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, laments the complexity of legislation the Senate passed five years ago.

He wonders in hindsight whether the law was made overly complicated to satisfy the political concerns of a few Democratic centrists who have since left Congress.

“We had the power to do it in a way that would have simplified healthcare, made it more efficient and made it less costly and we didn’t do it,” Harkin told The Hill. “So I look back and say we should have either done it the correct way or not done anything at all.

“What we did is we muddle through and we got a system that is complex, convoluted, needs probably some corrections and still rewards the insurance companies extensively,” he added.

Obamacare tackles none of the obvious drivers of cost increases. It doesn’t deal with tort reform at all, as Democrat Howard Dean admitted, doesn’t increase competition, doesn’t really reform healthcare. It takes from some Americans and gives to others, all through the inefficiency of centralized government, and rewards the very insurance companies that Democrats used to blast.

And, the majority of the American people saw all of that and didn’t want it when the Democrats and their president forced Obamacare through to become law.

By the way, Harkin has learned some things but not enough. He thinks one of Obamacare’s flaws is that it just doesn’t hand over enough power to government.

He believes Congress should have enacted “single-payer right from the get go or at least put a public option would have simplified a lot.”

“We had the votes to do that and we blew it,” he said.

Single payer was also unpopular, and still is.