Vulnerable U.S. House Dems back Bernie Sanders’ left-wing ‘Medicare For All’ proposal

/ May 24, 2023

By Arjun Singh

Several House Democrats who are running in competitive congressional elections in 2024 have signed onto a new “Medicare For All” proposal by left-wing Democrats.

The proposal, known as the “Medicare For All Act of 2023,” was announced last Wednesday by Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, along with Democratic Reps. Debbie Dingell of Michigan and Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, with the support of half of all House Democrats, according to a press release. “Medicare for All,” a term coined by Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign, refers to a proposal for a single, universal health insurance program across the United States run by the federal government, which has been estimated to cost approximately $32 trillion over a ten-year period.

Cosponsors of the legislation include several Democratic representatives who are running in competitive House races in 2024, such as Rep. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, who won her seat by just 0.8% over Republican George Logan in 2022, underperforming her district’s 2022 Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) Rating of D+3.

Included among the co-sponsors are three vulnerable House Democrats from Pennsylvania — Reps. Matt Cartwright, Susan Wild and Chris Deluzio. Cartwright represents the Eighth District, including President Joe Biden’s hometown Scranton, with a 2022 PVI score of R+5, and was re-elected with a small 2.4% majority after a challenge from GOP contender Jim Bognet.

Wild, similarly, won re-election by just 1.6% in 2022 to the neighboring Seventh District, covering Allentown, which has a PVI of R+2. Deluzio, a first-term congressman representing areas outside Pittsburgh, won his swing seat in the 17th district by 6.4%, though it has a PVI score of “Even.”

A 2020 poll shows that Medicare for All, which under Sanders’s and Jayapal’s recent plan would involve tax increases, was unpopular in Pennsylvania, with 51% of voters against the idea compared to 40% in support, according to polling by Third Way. Cartwright, Wild and Deluzio’s districts comprise largely rural areas, which would see lower spending on hospital care under the Medicare for All Act, according to an analysis published in the Lancet.

Joining them is Democratic Rep. Mike Levin of California, who represents the state’s 49th District – covering Northern San Diego and Oceanside – and who won his seat by 5.2% in 2022, a relatively low margin compared to other Southern California Democrats.

He was joined by Rep. Katie Porter, who represents the neighboring 47th District yet is running for the state’s U.S. Senate seat being vacated by fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein. Porter won her House Seat –  which covers the conservative areas of Orange County and Newport Beach – by a slim margin of 3.2% in 2022, with her seat having the lowest Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) Score for a Democrat in Southern California.

Both Porter and Levin’s support comes despite California’s state Democrats killing a single-payer proposal in 2022 after a coalition of 130 business groups called it a “job killer” and “exorbitantly expensive government bureaucracy” while lobbying against passage. Porter and Levin’s California seats are considered “prime pick-up opportunities” for Republicans in 2024 by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Other co-sponsors of the proposal include Democratic Reps. Andrea Salinas of Oregon, who won her Sixth District seat in the suburbs of Portland by 2.5% in 2022, and Dina Titus of Nevada, who was re-elected by a slim margin of 3.8% to represent Las Vegas despite being a six-term incumbent.

Republicans have broadly opposed Medicare For All, arguing that it would lead to higher taxes and poorer healthcare outcomes for most Americans. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that the proposal is tantamount to “socialism,” while Biden vowed during the 2020 presidential campaign that he “will not support Medicare for All” and would veto such legislation.

All the Democratic members named in this story, as well as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have been contacted for a comment.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities for this original content, email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore

Related posts

4 thoughts on “Vulnerable U.S. House Dems back Bernie Sanders’ left-wing ‘Medicare For All’ proposal”

  1. What a boondoggle that would be. A program run by the government. The cost of the program would fall on working folks of course. And, anyone that’s on Medicare now knows what a great program that is, NOT. I’m assuming the only people that would be for this are the ones that wouldn’t have to pay a dime. Then, there’s the Dr’s, nurses and hospital staff. Will the Dr’s accept the “government rate” for procedures performed. What a nightmare. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Bernie.

  2. Its not affordable and never will be. People pay 3% of their income over their entire working lives for it, then when retired they pay another 3000 or more a year for part B, that doesn’t even cover everything — and these idiots want everyone to be in the scam…

  3. Free healthcare, free education, free lunches, free phones, free housing…text your donations to ActBlue, pick up your ballots at the social services kiosk, and earn extra cash (tax free!) helping us with election tasks (no questions asked, just wear a mask.) The syndicate is in hyperdrive.

  4. So the commie and his two unAmerican commiettes want the taxpayers to foot the bill for health ins. for the millions of illegals and deadbeats.How about he sell off a couple of his houses and his fellow criminal congress critters who play the market as their effecting laws about it contribute their ill gotten millions towards it first.At least no one listens to burnie the commie anymore so nothing will happen.

Comments are closed.