Retro Rick Nolan…for Peace, Love and Single Payer

Meet “Retro Rick.” The new Rick Nolan in Congress is proving himself to be very much the same “liberal and radicalized” Rick Nolan of the 1970s.

Just last weekend, he used his platform at the DFL 8th Congressional District convention to champion an even more aggressive version of Obamacare: single-payer health care.

“We’re not done with this thing until we have single payer, universal (health system),” Rick Nolan said.

And in March, the thought of government-run health care made this radical liberal feel downright patriotic about his country:

“I’ve always been supportive of single-payer, nothing is more fundamentally American than that,” he [Rick Nolan] said. “That’s my ultimate goal. The Affordable Care Act is good in all the various things it does, but it’s no end all.”

It’s true he’s always supported single-payer health care as the radical ideology of his youth still guides his politics, no matter the cost. In the 1970s, Retro Rick was a cosponsor of “The Health Security Act,” also called “The Kennedy-Corman bill.” Here’s a summary:

The Kennedy-Corman bill would have 90% of all health costs met through a federal trust fund, with about half of the money coming from payroll taxes (mainly on employers) and the other half from general federal revenues. Everyone would be covered by the same plan, with Medicare eliminated and Medicaid retained only in a supplementary role. (“Whatever Happened To Health Insurance,” The Economist, 1/3/76)

Single-payer health care. It’s the disastrous goal of the new Rick Nolan, same as the old Rick Nolan.

The Bottom Line:
Rick Nolan’s single-payer dreams may have earned him high fives among groupies in the 1970s, but Minnesota families today can’t afford his radically liberal plan for government-run health care. Obamacare’s higher costs, fewer choices and unworkable mandates are just the beginning of Rick Nolan’s disastrous goal of forcing single-payer health care on every Minnesotan.