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A future Democratic-controlled Congress will be able to establish a single-payer healthcare system about 10 years sooner than they thought, according to a House lawmaker.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., believes that the internal Republican debate over a repeal of the Medicaid expansion created by Obamacare has greased the skids for a single-payer program modeled on Medicaid or Medicare. That's a far cry from the 2009 healthcare debate, when Democrats took pains to avoid the perception of government-run health care, but it builds on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's promise of a renewed progressive agenda.

"They've accelerated the move toward single-payer, probably advancing it by a decade," Blumenauer said Wednesday at a healthcare policy event hosted by The Hill.

Then-President Barack Obama rejected conservative claims that the healthcare overhaul represented a step toward single-payer healthcare during the debate. "What are not legitimate concerns are those being put forward claiming a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system," he said in 2009. "So, when you hear the naysayers claim that I'm trying to bring about government-run healthcare, know this they are not telling the truth."

Some congressional Democrats hoped at the time that a component of the healthcare bill known as a public option could provide a template for single-payer, but the provision was stripped out of the bill in the course of the debate. But the Medicaid expansion may have played a similar function, if Blumenauer's assessment is correct.

"I think the steps for Medicare for All or Medicaid For More are pretty simple, incremental steps that can go forward moving that because the public is aware, the inefficiencies have been exposed and what we're seeing in terms of the dynamics that people are struggling with in terms of trying to make this one-sixth of the economy function better," the Oregon Democrat said.

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Democrat says Obamacare debate 'accelerated the move toward single-payer' - Washington Examiner