Washington Unplugged: Health Care "Horror Stories?"

"Any government plan in any country around the world…has experienced rationing, withholding of care, unbelievable long waiting lists," she said.

Richard Kirsch, president of Health Care For America, responded by posing a question to moderator Bill Plante of CBS News. "How many stories has your network run about private insurance companies delaying care, denying care?" he asked.

"We right now don't have real choice, because in 94 percent of the markets in this country, insurance is considered highly concentrated by antitrust standards…let's break this monopoly that private insurance has, and the stranglehold on our lives and give people a choice," added Kirsch.

Toloczko countered that "a government cannot be a competitor and a regulator at the same time." She argued that a public plan will drive up costs for everyone.

"As private employers bail out in covering people, that is going to drive up the cost for the rest of the people who actually want the private care," she said. Asked why she opposes employer mandates, Toloczko said there are better options for reform – including "to allow individuals, as well as employers, to take a tax break for premiums and allowing low-income people to have a refundable tax credit so that they can pay for their own insurance."

Kirsch dismissed that as "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

"The fact is people in this country can't afford the current private health insurance system," he said. "…Three out of five bankruptcies in this country – medical debt has part to do with them. And most of them had health insurance."

Watch the entire exchange above.