>
Article snippet: Single-payer health care is gaining ground among Democrats. In a sign of the party’s move to the left on the issue, the Center for American Progress (CAP), a bastion of the Democratic establishment, this week released a plan that comes very close to a single-payer system. That’s a dramatic change from just two years ago, when MORE’s (I-Vt.) push of “Medicare for all” as politically unrealistic. The CAP plan, called "Medicare Extra for All," would provide government-run health insurance for everyone, though people would still have the option of obtaining coverage from an employer. In another sign of the increased prominence of single-payer among Democrats, many lawmakers seen as top contenders for the party’s presidential nomination in 2020, including Sens. MORE (D-Mass.), are backing Sanders’s latest Medicare for all bill. Democrats acknowledge the embrace of single-payer is part of a broader leftward shift for their party. But they say the experience of trying to make private markets work in ObamaCare — a system that Republicans have opposed at every turn — has changed their perspective on the likelihood of achieving universal coverage. “I think Bernie Sanders has definitely laid out a vision and created a movement toward Medicare for all, and no doubt that has been a big factor,” said Topher Spiro, vice president for health policy at CAP. Part of the need for the next step, he said, is “it's become clear we're not going to get any cooperation from Republican... Link to the full article to read more