Please excuse, but it was a Democrat who wouldn't go for single payer.
As it was, not a single Republican voted for Obamacare -- not in the House, not in the Senate. The Republicans were uniformly against both single payer and Obamacare as it is.
Actually, it was Sen. Joe Lieberman -- officially an Independent, but he caucused with the Dems -- who forced the Democrats to dump single payer. He was the 60th vote for the bill and he refused to provide it until the insurance companies in his home state got a piece of the action.
Accordingly, the original House bill -- which was single-payer -- was replaced by the current version of Obamacare.
I was being totally “tongue in cheek” with my comment about Republicans being blamed.
Of course, you are exactly right, but by the time the spin doctors get through with it, the old adage will apply:
“A lie gets halfway ‘round the world before the truth gets its pants on.”