O'Rourke faces pressure from left on 'Medicare for all'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Beto O'Rourke 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. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who would mandate Medicare for everyone and abolish employer-sponsored coverage.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/434344-orourke-faces-pressure-from-left-on-medicare-for-all?userid=229233

[R B Garr]

1. The blue wave saw many of the "left" candidates losing.

Not as much pressure as they think.

[HopeAgain]

4. So a plan that really

affords universal healthcare is some "left" thing not for Democrats?? Why be a Democrat for some watered down version of social justice?

[R B Garr]

5. That's not how I read it. No litmus test for another Senator's

platform is my response. Maybe I’m not understanding your comment, sorry.

[OrlandoDem2]

2. While I'd prefer a single-later system, a hybrid system like some countries have covering all people

May be the way we go.

I could be wrong but I believe France, Germany, and Switzerland have hybrid systems.

[Amimnoch]

3. The next advancement of the ACA act will be Congress, not the POTUS.

Ultimately, it will be a bill passed by Congress that makes the next advancement incarnation to the ACA.

Do you REALLY think that Beto, or ANY of our primary runners will not sign or veto any advancement version of our healthcare system that’s put on their desk by a Democratic Party majority congress??

Make sure we get the right people in the House, and retake the Senate with the right people, and we get what we want.

[Docreed2003]

6. +1

[CrossingTheRubicon]

7. Supporting a public option seems like a more popular and realistic stance than...

advocating to abruptly terminating all private medical insurance.

The latter is a losing political position.

[Adrahil]

8. I agree.

I’m not at all sold on Medicare for all.