They had a short period with 60 senators until Ted Kennedy died, so they had to reconcile in the senate what was already passed in the house — they had 59/60 senators who wanted to pass Obamacare with a Medicare public option but Lieberman refused and again, 0/40 Republicans helped in any way. So we got the ACA, a flawed piece of legislation but one specifically chosen to engender bipartisan support since it was largely based on the free market Romney/Heritage plan from MA.
And then what health care proposals did the republicans pass when they had legislative control to make things better? Literally nothing. Vote after vote to repeal the ACA and “a plan” to replace it that’s been 6 months away from being released for the past decade. It’s insane people refuse to admit this out loud.
Republicans had no access to even read the bill draft. They were limited to voting for the proverbial pig in a poke (remember Pelosi: "You have to pass the bill to see what's in it.")
Which is both a misquote of Pelosi and obviously false because they had been working for months to build a bill that Republicans could support. Enzi, Grassley, Snowe were involved from February onwards and Obama addressed a joint session of congress in September and the final bill wasn't signed until the following March.
Why on earth would you believe people who have lied about every other facet of the bill (Death panels! unconstitutional individual mandate that they used to support!, illegal immigrants!) when it comes to their culpability for failing to improve it.
More specifically, Pelosi's quote about understanding the benefits of the bill after it was signed was in March 2010 on the eve of Obama signing it. The bill he was signing was voted on by the House in October 2009, and the Senate that December.
And then what health care proposals did the republicans pass when they had legislative control to make things better? Literally nothing. Vote after vote to repeal the ACA and “a plan” to replace it that’s been 6 months away from being released for the past decade. It’s insane people refuse to admit this out loud.