Sanders is making health care his defining issue

[TexasTowelie]

His campaign is increasingly showcasing Medicare-for-all and attacking other plans. But is that what voters want?


DES MOINES ⁠— Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is seeking to break through a congested Democratic presidential race by campaigning more aggressively on Medicare-for-all, a risky strategy his advisers hope will shift the contest in his favor amid signs that he has lost ground in recent months.

On the campaign trail, Sanders increasingly touts his plan for a government program to insure all Americans, reminding voters that rivals followed his lead. And aides and allies have grown more hostile toward competing ideas, while Sanders's team has planned more frequent events and initiatives focused on health care.

"You talk like 'universal health care,' 'health care for all,' what does it mean?" Sanders told reporters on a muggy Sunday afternoon at the Iowa State Fair, referencing phrases other White House hopefuls have used. Reprising a line he used in a recent debate, he said, "As some of you may know, I wrote the damn bill. All right? I know a little bit about it."

But it's not clear whether the emboldened approach will help Sanders or compound his troubles.

Read more: https://www.inforum.com/news/nation/4609338-Sanders-is-making-health-care-his-defining-issue

[George II]

1. In Iowa almost three times as many people prefer Biden's plan to the so-called "Medicare for All":

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287237625

The poll also delved into policy, and one question asked what kind of health care proposal Iowa Democrats prefer.

The top answer, with 56 percent, was a system that allows people to buy into Medicare — a so-called public option. Biden is one of several candidates in the field who has proposed a public option.

Just 21 percent said they prefer a Medicare-for-all system that would place every American on a government-run health care program. Such a proposal has been pitched by candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

[bluewater]

4. Nationwide, poll results favor Medicare for All

Majority Backs ‘Medicare for All’ Replacing Private Plans, if Preferred Providers Stay

55% of voters back a Medicare for All system that diminishes the role of private insurers if they retain access to their preferred providers.

Independents are 14 points more likely to back the system when told losing their private plan would not mean losing their doctor (42% to 56%).

Though the dividing line between Democratic presidential candidates on “Medicare for All” concerns the elimination of the private insurance market, new Morning Consult data suggests that anxiety among voters may be misplaced fear about losing their providers rather than their private plans.

According to a Morning Consult/Politico survey conducted after the first Democratic presidential primary debates, support among voters for Medicare for All falls to 46 percent from 53 percent when respondents are told the government-run health system would diminish the role of private insurers — but rises back to 55 percent when voters learn that losing their private plans would still allow them to keep their preferred doctors and hospitals.

https://morningconsult.com/2019/07/02/majority-backs-medicare-for-all-replacing-private-plans-if-preferred-providers-stay/

[comradebillyboy]

2. As the other candidates back away from MFA Bernie doubles

down. Exception, Warren is still on the MFA bandwagon.

[Butterflylady]

3. Hell, there are others?

[Hortensis]

5. Whatever happened to income redistribution and class warfare?

It's kind of overdue, while national healthcare's already in place and upgrades being tended to by other candidates.

And he owes us since Hillary was going to dive into that for us and that train got derailed...

If that's too ambitious, how about the need to reform the Democratic Party? If it was important enough to loudly call for tabling the election in the summer of 2016 to tend to it, surely it's past time to get to it? Or does he feel it should wait for the GE this time also? It is, after all, something he can still make a lot of noise about after he's out of the race.

[Vegas Roller]

6. You mean the bashing of other candidates is no longer the cornerstone? nt

[NYMinute]

7. The "revolution" is going like

a rapidly deflating balloon.