Should ‘Medicare for All’ Be Mandatory? Democrats Spar On Stage

The candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination rallied around the idea of a government-run Medicare option Thursday night, disagreeing only over whether to make it an option or put all Americans in the program.

A government-run insurance option was considered and rejected during the party’s legislating of the Affordable Care Act. A decade later, the support for making Medicare available to more people, either to compete with private insurance or replace it entirely, is a sign of how far the Democratic party has shifted -- even in the face of inevitable Republican attacks during the general election.