Pennsylvania’s Single Payer System Has a Democracy Problem

By Seth Higgins

The bill in the Pennsylvania General Assembly to create a single-payer healthcare system in Pennsylvania is a fascinating document. Not because it is likely to become law. Even if Democrats take the Pennsylvania Senate while maintaining the governorship and House this November – a real possibility – this bill is still dead on arrival.

Instead, what makes this bill fascinating is what it says about the party. Democrats cast themselves as the champions of everyday people while protecting democracy. Their critics say this is a ruse, and instead the party is concerned with increasingly niche interest groups while handing power over to unelected bureaucrats.

Democrats counter that such accusations are nothing more than partisan hogwash designed to gin up right-wing anxieties. If Pennsylvania Democrats cared to read this bill, they would disavow that counterargument and, one hopes, concede that their critics have a point.