Kyrsten Sinema today said she is opposed to a single-payer health care system even though she co-sponsored legislation to implement a single-payer health care system. She has also advocated for outlawing private health insurance and served on an advisory board for a liberal group advocating for a national single-payer system.
This is just the latest attempt by Sinema to create a smokescreen of lies to hide her extremist record from the voters in the state that she hates but wants to represent in the U.S. Senate.
To recap, Sinema:
- Says Arizona is crazy
- Calls Arizona the meth lab of Democracy
- Summoned witches to her anti-war rally
- Says it is inappropriate to condemn destruction of property by anarchists
- Doesn’t care if Americans fight for the Taliban
- Likened U.S. troops to terrorists
- Promoted events featuring a convicted terror lawyer
- Repeatedly appeared on a 9/11 truther’s radio show
- Compared deaths of U.S. soldiers to deaths from illegal border crossings
- Says flag ties and pins aren’t “real patriotism”
- Says Arizona Is Famous ‘in a Lindsay Lohan Kind of Way’
- Called Arizona “a warning symbol” for other states
- Called for more “compassion” for enemy combatants
- Took thousands from a pro-population control group
SINGLE-PAYER BACKGROUND:
Between 2005 and 2009, Sinema was on the Advisory Board of Progressive Democrats of America.
Between at least December 2005 and March 2009, Sinema was on the Advisory Board for The Progressive Democrats of America (PDA). (“About Our Advisory Board,” Progressive Democrats Of America [Web Archive], 12/10/05; “PDA Advisory Board,” Progressive Democrats Of America [Web Archive], 3/20/09)
In 2008, The Progressive Democrats of America were proponents of a single payer health care system. “Single-payer health care proposals fell out of favor with politicians of all stripes this campaign season, but now the single-payer advocates are back in Washington. And they’re pushing Democrats to propose a single-payer system that expands Medicare to cover all Americans. Leading the charge is the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, the nation’s largest nurses union, which is teaming up with Progressive Democrats of America, Physicians for a National Health Program and Healthcare-Now.” (Chris Frates, “Health Care Advocates Promote Reform,” Politico, 11/18/08)
PDA urged its members to support John Conyers’s U.S. National Health Insurance Act, “which establishes streamlined, nonprofit national health insurance – enhanced by Medicare For All.” “PDA supports Rep. John Conyers bill, H.R. 676, which establishes streamlined, nonprofit national health insurance–enhanced Medicare for All–which would negotiate drug and treatment costs. By replacing private insurers and recouping administrative savings of up to $300 billion per year, this single-payer approach provides topnotch health care to everyone. Care would be privately delivered by healers and hospitals, but publicly financed–with no bills, co-pays, deductibles, denials or medically-induced bankruptcies. PDA also supports health care initiatives at the state and local level that move us toward a nonprofit single-payer system.”(Progressive Democrats Of America [Web Archive], 6/7/07; “PDA Priorities,” Progressive Democrats Of America [Web Archive], 3/14/07)
CO-SPONSORED SINGLE PAYER IN 2006
In 2006, Sinema co-sponsored a bill to create a single payer health care system in Arizona. (HB 2752, Introduced 2/6/06)
Sinema’s bill would have created a single payer health care system that pools funds from Medicare, Medicaid and employers to provide insurance coverage to all Arizona residents. “The bill would create a single-payer system that pools funds from Medicare, Medicaid and employers to provide insurance coverage to all Arizona residents regardless of health status, employment, age or income level. Lopes, a Tucson Democrat and House minority leader, says he believes that the plan can be paid for out of the $30 billion currently spent on health care in the state. He points out that half of all health care bills are already paid for by the public sector, through coverage for public employees, members of the military, Medicare and Medicaid. And he cites studies that have predicted cost savings if everyone was covered under one plan.” (Amanda Crawford, “Supporters Rally For Universal Health Care Bill,” The Arizona Republic, 2/3/06)
Sinema’s bill would have outlawed private insurance coverage in Arizona. (HB 2752, Introduced 2/6/06)
The Arizona Republic said “Private insurance as we know it would be abolished.” (Amanda Crawford, “Supporters Rally For Universal Health Care Bill,” The Arizona Republic, 2/3/06)
SUPPORTED SINGLE PAYER IN 2001
In 2001, Sinema supported a health care system similar to France and Canada
During her 2001 Phoenix City Council run, Sinema said she was an advocate of “a national health care system similar to that of France and Canada.” If she was elected to the City Council, Sinema said she “would strongly advocate universal health care for the city of phoenix, with an intention to spread the system throughout Arizona.” “Arizona has one of the lowest rankings in the nation in the area of health care and mental health. Nearly 25 percent of all children in Arizona do not have health care. This is inhumane and unjust. As an advocate of implementation of a national health care system similar to that of France and Canada, I advocate a state health care system. In the purview of City Council membership, I would strongly advocate universal health care for the city of Phoenix, with an intention to spread the system throughout Arizona. Most industrialized countries in the world utilize this system and provide a higher level of care for a fraction of the cost. Most importantly, all residents in areas with universal health care are assured access to decent health care and mental health.” (“The Issues,” Kyrsten Sinema For Phoenix City Council [Web Archive], 9/9/01)