The quote in the headline appeared to mean what you responded to, but a few paragraphs into the article it was plain they were talking about the unprecedented s

The quote in the headline appeared to mean what you responded to, but a few paragraphs into the article it was plain they were talking about the unprecedented scale of the private health insurance industry, at about $1,000,000,000,000/yr revenues (a trillion, a lot bigger than the defense budget), largely owned by institutional investors and mutual funds, ie. people with retirement plans. I would tend to believe unprecedented is the correct term for nationalizing an industry of this scale. Of course, it is also unprecedented to spend this much on health care.