As Over 100 House Democrats Embrace ‘Medicare for All,’ a Party Division Appears

Denouncing the profit motive in health care, more than 100 House Democrats rallied on Wednesday around a bill to replace most private health insurance with a national single-payer system, “Medicare for all.”

The chief sponsor of the bill, Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, said it would cure “a deep sickness within our for-profit system” of health care.

But the bill highlights Democrats’ split over health policy going into the 2020 elections.

Supporters of the bill, under which health care would be available to all Americans without premiums, co-payments, deductibles or “similar charges,” did not say how much it would cost or how they would pay for it. They said their proposal could save huge sums by cutting administrative costs and the bill-paying bureaucracy that works for insurance companies and health care providers. And Ms. Jayapal mentioned the possibility of levying “a wealth tax on the wealthiest Americans.”

But only two hours after she introduced the bill, leaders of a more centrist group known as the New Democrat Coalition said Congress should initially focus on shoring up the Affordable Care Act, stabilizing insurance marketplaces and holding down prescription drug costs.

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