Single-Payer Health Care System Is The 'Only Solution,' Holt Says

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt touches the third rail in the healthcare debate in his latest ad in support of his U.S. Senate bid, arguing that a single-payer healthcare system is the “only solution.’’

In the fifth in a series of whiteboard, internet-only ads the campaign has titled the “Geek Out” series, Holt uses a litany of statistics to debunk the argument that the American healthcare system is the best in the world – a common refrain used by critics of the Affordable Care Act, also known as “ObamaCare.’’

“We rank fifty-first in life expectancy, fifty-first in infant mortality, forty-eighth in maternal mortality, forty-third in suicide rates, and forty-seventh in hospital beds,’’ Holt says. “In fact, there’s only one measure by which American health care consistently leads the world: cost.”

And the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature legislation that U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone – a competitor in the U.S. Senate race – helped craft, does not go far enough to fix the problem, Holt says.

“ObamaCare will help, but not enough,’’ Holt says.

Holt is vying for the Senate seat of late Sen. Frank Lautenberg in an Aug. 13 special primary election against Democratic contenders Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Pallone and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver.

The winner of the primary will face off against a the GOP primary winner – either Steve Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota or Somerset County physician Alieta Eck in a special general election, slated for Oct. 16.

In previous ads, Holt has advocated for taxes on businesses that pollute, new taxes on some Wall Street trading, and lowering school loans to the rates charged to big banks.

Holt’s last ad, “Climate Change,” claimed that “millions would die’’ if nothing was done to reverse man-made climate change. It provoked strong responses from Oliver, who defended Holt’s position, and Lonegan, who called it “silly hysteria.’’