{"id":19060,"date":"2019-02-25T10:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2019\/02\/25\/beyond-bumper-sticker-slogans-2020-democrats-debate-details-of-medicare-for-all\/"},"modified":"2019-02-25T10:00:31","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T10:00:31","slug":"beyond-bumper-sticker-slogans-2020-democrats-debate-details-of-medicare-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/beyond-bumper-sticker-slogans-2020-democrats-debate-details-of-medicare-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond 'Bumper Sticker' Slogans: 2020 Democrats Debate Details Of Medicare-For-All"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Danielle Kurtzleben<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., promotes his Medicare-for-all proposal at the 2017 Convention of the California Nurses Association\/National Nurses Organizing Committee in San Francisco, Calif., an issue that is dominating the early debate in the 2020 presidential contest.<\/p>\n

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Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Bernie Sanders is back, but one of his signature policies never left.<\/p>\n

In 2015, he introduced Medicare-for-all to many Democrats for the first time. Since Sanders’ first run for president, that type of single-payer health care system has become a mainstream Democratic proposal.<\/p>\n

Last week, Sanders launched his second presidential campaign, amid a field of presidential candidates who are trying to figure out how to position themselves around the policy. Trying to stand out from the pack, though \u2014 especially on health care \u2014 poses a problem: Differentiating yourself means getting into the details, and getting into the details can turn voters off.<\/p>\n

Over the last few weeks, candidates have been working to show voters the daylight between their respective health care proposals.<\/p>\n

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New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has stressed that he supports Medicare-for-all, and that he wants private insurers<\/a> to have a role in that system. “Even countries that have vast access to publicly offered health care still have private health care,” he told reporters this month.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she wants a public option<\/a>, in the form of letting people buy into Medicaid. As for single-payer health care, she says it’s a possibility in the long-term.<\/p>\n

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who says he’s still debating a run, also wants a sort of public option, but only for people above age 50, whom he would allow to buy in to Medicare<\/a>. “I think Medicare-for-all will take a while, and it’s difficult,” he told CNN’s State of the Union<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Long story short: In a huge Democratic presidential field, health care is the first issue where candidates are really differentiating themselves.<\/p>\n

Bumper sticker politics<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Health reform is always more popular as a bumper sticker than as a piece of legislation,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president for health reform at the Kaiser Family Foundation.<\/p>\n

He points to both the Obamacare and the Obamacare repeal efforts as examples \u2014 some ideas behind Obamacare, like insuring pre-existing conditions, were popular. But other aspects that proponents said were necessary to make it work, like the individual mandate, infuriated some voters, helping propel Republicans to big wins in 2010.<\/p>\n