Yes, big pharma is entwined in the American healthcare system in ways that make it near impossible to get rid of. With the stock portfolios, profit margins, investments, executive payouts, purchased congress critters, etc, it's no wonder single payer was taken "off the table." The lobbyists would not stand for it.

So what AHCA has become is a regulator of health insurance instead of health care for all. But I do see some positive things that are coming out of AHCA. Also, the real benefit is allowing the states to set up their own networks by opting out. That's actually how we will get single care - one state at a time. It was voted on in CA and vetoed by arnie. It's going to come up again. Other states also have plans to bring it up for vote.

Like MJ legalization, it will happen at the state levels first.

So yes, we may be screwed for years to come, but we were before the AHCA as well. We're screwed because we live in a country that allows for-profit health care which no other industrialized country allows.

It will probably start in the states, spread, and eventually become universal care.

Vermont, Oregon, Wisconsin, and California are some potential early adopters.

Canada took almost 16 years--from 1946 to 1962.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Canada#The_beginning_of_coverage

I'm 44, and I'm hoping I live to see it and benefit from it--and not just a death benefit.