Bernie’s Single-Payer Plan Is Winning Over Democrats

By Nathan Guttman February 26, 2018

When presented during his presidential campaign in 2016, Bernie Sanders’ idea of universal healthcare, known as a single-payer system, was widely rejected by fellow Democratic politicians, who preferred to side with Hillary Clinton’s more modest idea of making minor modifications to the Affordable Care Act.

But now, Democrats are coming around to embrace the Sanders plan.

The Center for American Progress, widely viewed as representing Democratic establishment thinking, has proposed a healthcare plan similar to Sanders’s, based on a single-payer system. According to The Hill, Sanders’s plan has also been endorsed by Sens. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren, all considered potential candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Sanders, who’s been on the road speaking out against Trump’s tax plan, mades a point of touting his “Medicare for all” plan in his rallies. He has also launched a campaign to crack down on pharmaceutical companies and is now seeking to force big pharma executives to testify before Congress.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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