From the moment the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, many within the left side of the Democratic Party have considered the landmark health law an unsatisfactory surrender to the private insurance industry. 

Many progressives have smarted over the absence of a "public option" in the final bill, which would have allowed people to opt for a government-run insurance plan. Many have also accused the Democratic establishment, including President Obama and Hillary Clinton, of giving up too easily on the public option to appease insurers after promising during their 2008 campaigns to push for such a plan. 

In response to such criticisms, generally coming from the camp supporting Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, Clinton has said that she will continue to push for a public option and that, short of establishing it at the federal level, she will work to allow states to set up their own public insurance programs to compete with private plans.