The Atlantic

Bernie Sanders Makes His Pitch for Single Payer

The Vermont senator will formally introduce the 2017 version of his “Medicare-for-all” legislation on Wednesday. Will it stand up to scrutiny?
Source: Joshua Roberts / Reuters

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is making big promises and raising the expectations of liberal voters on health care.

On Wednesday, Sanders will formally unveil the 2017 version of his “Medicare-for-all” legislation, shifting talk of single payer on Capitol Hill from an abstract conversation over whether the government should provide universal health coverage to a concrete discussion of a specific bill. With Republicans in control of Congress, single payer won’t pass, but supporters hope the legislation will increase public support, and political will, for an idea that has long been considered a long-shot liberal dream in the United States.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic5 min readAmerican Government
What Nikki Haley Is Trying to Prove
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Nikki Haley faces terrible odds in her home state of
The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Most Consequential Recent First Lady
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. The most consequential first lady of modern times was Melania Trump. I know, I know. We are supposed to believe it was Hillary Clinton, with her unbaked cookies
The Atlantic3 min read
They Rode the Rails, Made Friends, and Fell Out of Love With America
The open road is the great American literary device. Whether the example is Jack Kerouac or Tracy Chapman, the national canon is full of travel tales that observe America’s idiosyncrasies and inequalities, its dark corners and lost wanderers, but ult

Related Books & Audiobooks