Sanders relaunches ‘Medicare for All’ with Dems divided

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Sen. Bernie Sanders launched a revamped “Medicare for All” plan Wednesday, highlighting a divide among Democrats over one of their bedrock 2020 campaign issues – the future of health care in America.

As before, the Democratic presidential candidate’s signature proposal would replace job-based and individual private health insurance with a government-run plan that guarantees coverage for all with no premiums, deductibles and only minimal copays for certain services. In this latest version, Sanders added coverage for long-term care.

Some Democratic 2020 hopefuls point to their support of Medicare for All to prove their progressive bona fides. But other Democrats say it’s not politically or economically feasible because of the large tax increases required, preferring instead to stabilize the Affordable Care Act and use it to expand coverage.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has sounded skeptical about Sanders’ plan.

Republicans, meanwhile, cite Medicare for All as Exhibit A in their own 2020 narrative depicting a radicalized Democratic Party steering toward “socialism.”

Several independent studies of Medicare for All have estimated that it would dramatically increase government spending on health care, in the range of about $25 trillion to $35 trillion or more over a 10-year period. But a recent estimate from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst suggests that the cost could be much lower.

Sanders and his supporters say it’s a matter of principle.

“Health care is a human right, not a privilege,” declared the Vermont Independent, who is again seeking the Democratic nomination for president, as he unveiled his bill at a Capitol Hill event crowded with nurses and advocates for patients. Fellow Democratic presidential candidate and co-sponsor Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York also spoke, saying “this has to become the next social safety net.”

Four of Sanders’ fellow senators and rivals for the Democratic nomination have signed onto the updated single-payer health care proposal. In addition to Gillibrand, they are Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.