Democratic senators appear hesitant to back a “Medicare for All” plan like the one being touted by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Only 14 senators, including Warren, have co-sponsored Medicare for All legislation from Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to a November 7, 2019 article in Roll Call. Roughly half of Democrats in the House of Representatives support such a measure. Many Democratic lawmakers have expressed support for building on Obamacare instead.
In order to push Medicare for All through Congress, there would need to be more members elected who campaigned in favor of the policy, said Robert Blendon, Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “If a House member didn’t run on it and they’re in some sort of mixed district, they’re not going to be convinced by a president saying, ‘I won, so therefore you have to do it,’” Blendon said.
Read the Roll Call article: Senate Democrats skeptical of Warren’s ‘Medicare for All’ push