[ISiddiqui]

I think people forget that the ACA initially HAD a public option as part of it's plan. However, it was impossible to get 60 votes in the Senate for it (even though there were 60 Democrats in the Senate, some of them were not sold on the public option), so it had to be removed from the final bill.

And on prescription drugs, I think the Medicare Part D law passed during the Bush Administration forbade the government from using it's negotiation power to drive drug prices down for Medicare recipients.