Ted Cruz's Conspiracy Theories on the Affordable Care Act

During last night's Texas Senate debate, Republican nominee Ted Cruz expressed some truly out-there conspiracy theories about the Affordable Care Act - namely that it's a slippery slope law towards socialized medicine, and that a law nearly 80 years in the making was rammed through in a "brazen display of arrogance."

The video of the full exchange, along with the transcript of Cruz's conspiracies, is below:

Cruz: I believe we should repeal Obamacare for two reasons. I think it's designed to move us towards single payer government provided health care, and if you look at every nation on earth, where socialized medicine has been implemented, the result has been poor quality, waiting times, and rationing. and putting government bureaucrats between patients and their doctors. But the second reason I think it should be repealed is I think Obamacare was rammed through in a display of arrogance. It was clear that it was contrary to the strong views of the majority of the american people. And it is the only major piece of social legislation in modern times to have been past on a strictly partisan vote only by Democrats despite the fact that the voters in Virginia rejected an incumbent Democrat and elected [a] Republican, in Massachusetts the Scott Brown race was a referendum on Obamacare, and they rammed it through any way.

Cruz's conspiracy theories about the Affordable Care Act are troubling to hear - though not surprising from such an extreme Tea Party candidate. The slippery slope argument about single-payer is a scare tactic that is completely implausible, precisely because the legislation was not rammed through. As many proponents of ACA have noted, Presidents have tried to pass a national health care law like the Affordable Care Act since the days of President Franklin Roosevelt. The idea that anything was rammed through is ridiculous.

What drives Cruz crazy, more than anythign else, is that the Affordable Care Act is working in Texas. Many of the "reforms" Cruz claims he wants - expanded use in the marketplace, empowering patients to make choices - are central components of the law. Cruz, however, maintains that he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, despite its obvious benefits - which are highlighted in the video above.