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Article snippet: MORE has offered conflicting messages on 'Medicare for all,' drawing fire from progressive activists who accuse him of backing off an idea they say he once supported. The issue has become an important litmus test for those on the party's left and an early question for O'Rourke, who announced his presidential run on Thursday. O’Rourke previously supported a full-scale single-payer plan, writing in a 2017 Facebook post, “We need a single-payer health care system for all Americans.” But he backed off the idea during his Senate run in Texas last year, calling for “achieving universal health care coverage — whether it be through a single-payer system, a dual system or otherwise.” This week, O'Rourke again moved away from full single-payer health care, saying he supports giving people the option to buy into Medicare. That's far from the approach being pushed by 2020 rival and progressive icon Sen. MORE (I-Vt.), who would mandate Medicare for everyone and abolish employer-sponsored coverage. “It’s very disheartening and misleading because he did flirt with Medicare for all during his Senate race,” said Waleed Shahid, communications director for the progressive group Justice Democrats and a former Sanders staffer. “Beto will lose the votes of progressives and young people by not coming out in favor of single-payer Medicare for all,” he added. O’Rourke told CBS News on Thursday that Medicare for all is “one of the possible paths” to expanding health care coverage but made... Link to the full article to read more