There's rarely a majority in Congress to pass anything at all until a campaign has been mounted to sell it.
And when a president and his political party are swept into power to deliver affordable, quality medical treatment for all as Obama and Democrats were in 2008, and the one method that can accomplish it (and also happens to solve other unique problems facing us at the time, i.e., a crashing economy, joblessness, etc.) that president not only doesn't use his bully pulpit to sell, but unilaterally takes off the table, removes from even discussing it, then the fix is in and that president is corrupt to the core.
Obama took single payer (MedicareForAll) off the table, because if the goal is to get affordable quality medical care for all then everything else pales in comparison.
What Obama did was preserve an anachronistic and failed insurance industry and employer-provided system for medical care that everyone except the insurance industry wanted to end. It's government sanctioned racketeering.
What you believe about Obama wanting single payer, much less a public option, is without any foundation. As a matter of fact, all of the evidence points to a scheme to eliminate public healthcare of all kinds.
In February 2010, when proponents of a public option were finally making some headway between the time that the House passed its version of healthcare reform and the time that the Senate passed its version (and it's important to remember that Obama never pressured BlueDogs or Joe Lieberman, never used the power of the White House and never took to the bully pulpit to advocate for a public option), Obama held a 'make it or break it bipartisan summit' at the WhiteHouse which was gamed to prevent public option proponents from getting real reform, (affordable quality medical care for everyone). PO proponents were shut out of the negotiations. Why wasn't Anthony Weiner or any proponents of public healthcare, of a public option, of single payer, at that summit?
The summit was gamed to let insurance companies retain their lock on the path to getting healthcare.
Whether it's Republicans saying no or Democrats saying yes, to attend this summit you must have accepted that the insurance industry's ability to make profits off of you be preserved and protected, despite it bankrupting the American people individually and the nation at large.
Insurance adds NOTHING to the medical model. The insurance industry is the 'Don Fanucci' (Godfather, Part II) of medical care; the insurance industry is "wetting its beak", letting you get medical care (maybe, if you can afford the deductibles, the co-pays, and if your illness is covered by your policy, but) only if you pay them a gratuity up front.
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