Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Stay on top of the latest market trends
Subscribe to Axios Markets for the latest market trends and economic insights. Sign up for free.
Sports news worthy of your time
Binge on the stats and stories that drive the sports world with Axios Sports. Sign up for free.
Tech news worthy of your time
Get our smart take on technology from the Valley and D.C. with Axios Login. Sign up for free.
Get the inside stories
Get an insider's guide to the new White House with Axios Sneak Peek. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Want a daily digest of the top Denver news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Want a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Want a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Want a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Want a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
A "Medicare for all" march in Pasadena, California. Photo: Gabriel Olsen / FilmMagic via Getty Images
The liberal Center for American Progress is out this morning with its plan for a Medicare buy-in — one version of the “Medicare for all” promise that has become both a rallying cry and a litmus test on the left.
Between the lines: CAP is well within the mainstream of the Democratic party. And the existence of this document is more important than its details, which obviously aren't going to be enacted any time soon.
- It’s a sign of how successfully the Bernie Sanders wing has pulled Democrats toward some broad embrace of “Medicare for all” — and also of the considerable variation in what that phrase means to different people.
- CAP’s plan is more gradual and less robust than Sanders’, but it reflects the same basic trajectory, and that alone is a big change.
Details of the plan:
- CAP’s plan would not immediately transition the whole country into one single-payer system. Rather, it would let all Americans choose to buy into a beefed-up Medicare program.
- Employers would be allowed to pay for their workers to join Medicare, rather than providing their own health benefits.
- But newborns would be automatically enrolled in the new program, so it would likely take over soon enough.