Bernie Wins: Democrats are Embracing Single Payer for Real
Excerpts:
By Alex Thompson Sep 12, 2017
To the left, to the left.
In the wake of a devastating electoral defeat that left their party in its weakest position in decades, the biggest names in Democratic politics are set to take one large step to the left on Wednesday with a formal endorsement of a single-payer health care system. It will mark the largest support for such a plan in more than a generation.
In the past, Sanders’ crusade for a single payer system has been a lonely one. No Senators cosponsored his last government healthcare bill, or the one before that, or the one before that. But on Wednesday there will be at least six and potentially several more.
These cosponsors include the most prominent Democrats in the country — who are also keeping their options open for the 2020 presidential race — such Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
The embrace of Medicare-for-All is a striking shift for the Democratic Party which has been gradually moving to the right on healthcare for decades in order to find a solution that could pass and not be easily vilified by the right-wing monikker of “socialized medicine.”
Democrats have no illusions that Donald Trump or the Republicans Congress will pass this bill, however. Tomorrow’s event is all about January 20, 2021.
https://news.vice.com/story/bernie-wins-democrats-are-embracing-single-payer-for-real