Bernie Sanders's Medicare-for-All plan is only a start. But it's the right start.

By Jared Bernstein September 14 at 9:55 AM
Jared Bernstein, a former chief economist to Vice President Biden, is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of the new book 'The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth and Prosperity.'

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Current political realities require building on these gains, inclusive of all stakeholders. It is interesting and notable that Sanders not only clearly gets this, but was himself one of the most energetic defenders of the ACA during the recent Republican attempts to repeal it.

Thus, what I hear Sanders implicitly saying is that we’ve got to walk and chew gum. We must both respect path dependency and act incrementally while at the same time envisioning and plotting a new path toward a much more progressive future.

This is why I find his plan, and the fact that it has all these co-sponsors, so downright inspiring. Look around, fellow progressives. I can’t speak for you, but what I see is a horribly cramped debate in every area that matters to me, including taxes, health care, climate, immigration, inequality, public investments, and so on. The indefatigable Sanders is trying his damnedest to blast that cramped debate wide open. Finally, a Democrat willing to envision a much different, more equitable political economy!

Sanders’s plan only starts this conversation, and the plan itself is actually highly modular. I can easily envision more moderate, path-dependent/incremental Democrats saying, “I agree with where Sen. Sanders wants to go here, but to minimize the disruptions and costs to the system, we must significantly extend the transition period.” That is, add a Medicare buy-in to the ACA and very gradually expand eligibility (some call this “Medicare for More”).

For far too long, Democrats have way over-negotiated with themselves, starting debates where they wanted to end up, and getting pushed hard to the right by conservatives. Sanders’s plan is one of the few I’ve seen for a long while that sees the folly in this and takes strong, corrective action. So go Bernie!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/09/14/bernie-sanders-startsthats-startsan-important-conversation-about-health-care