Ben Nelson: Activist Supreme Court will pave the way for single payer

[Bill USA]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/ben-nelson-activist-supreme-court-would-pave-the-way-to-a-single-payer-system.php?ref=fpb

Retiring Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) — the most conservative Democratic senator, and the member of the caucus who held out longest before voting for the Affordable Care Act — warns that if the Supreme Court throws out the law, it’ll put the country on the road toward single-payer health care.

“Many expect an activist Supreme Court will strike down part or all of health reform,” Nelson said in a prepared statement. “If they strike down the mandate, the Supreme Court will be paving the way to a single-payer system, or back to the old broken health care system — neither of which are good for Nebraskans.”

Nelson was skeptical of the approach Democrats took toward reforming the health care system, and his hesitance nearly tanked the party’s efforts multiple times in 2009. But since his retirement announcement, and particularly since the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the ACA, Nelson’s become an unlikely champion of the law.

It’s worth mentioning that his analysis of the consequences of an adverse Court decision is the same as single-payer supporters’, which advances the idea that if the Court voids the ACA, conservatives like Nelson will over time reluctantly warm toward single payer as the only viable approach to the unsustainable status quo.

[marmar]

1. Bring it on.......Ben Nelson is a useless sack of DINO flesh.

nt

[Bill USA]

3. that's what's so interesting. That HE is speaking in support of the ACA! NOte the quote from article

"But since his retirement announcement, and particularly since the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the ACA, Nelson’s become an unlikely champion of the law."

[MrSlayer]

2. Fuck this guy.

He's a major reason good things can never get done. He's a piece of shit and a whore's whore.

Why wouldn't single payer be good for Nebraskans? Because the scumbag middlemen would be cut out?

Fuck you Nelson.

[Bill USA]

4. that's what makes this bit of news noteworthy. A former opponent of HCR is now defending it!

"But since his retirement announcement, and particularly since the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the ACA, Nelson’s become an unlikely champion of the law."

of course, he's wrong about single payer not being good. But I think when the Fascist Five on the SC overturn the ACA, they will be paving the way for single payer- the most rational approach and better than the ACA.

[JoeyT]

5. Yeah, he's defending it now.

Now that he can't get money for attacking it anymore, I guess he figures he might as well.

I'll wonder the same thing about him for defending it that I did when he attacked it: "Who's paying him to do this?".

[malthaussen]

6. He fears single-payer

He says so right up front.

-- Mal

[Jim Lane]

7. The point is that the ACA, if it stands, will probably delay the inevitable single-payer system.

That was precisely what many progressives said during the debate. The difference is that they considered such delay a disadvantage of the ACA. Nelson, who shills for big business, considers it an advantage. He hopes the ACA will remain in place so that it will continue to obstruct the path to single-payer.