- Washington Free Beacon - https://freebeacon.com -

Lawmaker Who Helped Write Obamacare: 'What We Have Now Is Not Working'

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.), in a House Budget Committee hearing on single-payer health care Wednesday, said the country's current system is not working.

"I'm also the co-sponsor of Medicare for America, I helped write the Affordable Care Act, I'm for improving it, I'm for all the plans because what we have now is not working," Schakowsky said.

Schakowsy helped push Obamacare through the House of Representatives back in 2010.

"One of the most rewarding days of my life was March 23, 2010—the day when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was signed into law," her congressional website claims.

Since 2013, a year before many of Obamacare's rules and regulations were implemented, health insurance premiums doubled in costs, according to a Department of Health and Human Services report. Former President Obama promised that his signature legislative achievement would not cause Americans to lose their health insurance plans, but as the law took effect, millions of insurance plans were cancelled.

Schakowsky would like to eliminate private insurance for individuals but allow employers to keep providing their employees with private insurance, an alternate position to the Medicare For All proposals backed by 2020 presidential candidates such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.).

"We need a bold plan here and I am on every bill to improve health care," Schawkosky said.