Sen. Elizabeth Warren hasn’t always hugged Medicare for All so tightly, but since the debates started in June, she has gone all in. | Charles Krupa/AP Photo 2020 elections Warren has lots of plans. But not on health care. By embracing "Medicare for All," Elizabeth Warren can attract progressive voters and keep the peace with Bernie Sanders.

Elizabeth Warren boasts she has a plan for everything, but there’s one glaring omission: health care.

Warren, who has recently leaped into the top tier of a crowded primary field as she rolled out detailed policies for seemingly everything — from climate change to the opioid crisis to breaking up tech giants — has instead embraced “Medicare for All” legislation from Sen. Bernie Sanders, her foremost progressive rival. And for many single-payer activists thrilled the once-fringe issue has entered the party’s mainstream, that’s good enough.


“Elizabeth Warren is a fierce advocate for America's working families,” said Ady Barkan, the prominent health care activist dying of ALS whose story Warren told during the debate. “Single-payer Medicare For All is what we need, so it would be counterproductive to propose something else just for the sake of being different.”

Democratic advocates and political strategists suggested there’s little upside to Warren offering her own plan right now as she and Sanders — who have sought to avoid attacking one another — chase a similar set of progressive voters. By aligning with Sanders, she can fight for a progressive priority without boxing herself in with a prescriptive plan that’s unlikely to differ much from the one he’s written.

But they say Warren will need to strike a delicate balance as the field of candidates winnows — appealing to progressives by championing single-payer health care while still presenting a clear enough alternative to Sanders.

“So far they’ve been an effective one-two punch for the direction of the party,” said Democratic strategist Andrew Feldman, who works with labor unions and progressive groups. “But once the field starts dwindling, her lack of a health care plan is going to come into more heightened focus, especially because she does have so many plans out there. There's a risk of people saying, ‘If she’s just for Bernie’s plan, why shouldn’t we just vote for Bernie?’”

Warren’s campaign did not respond to multiple questions from POLITICO about whether she intends to offer her own health care plan.

For now, Warren’s strategy of tying herself to Sanders’ plan has been effective, strategists and activists said. During Tuesday night’s debate, Warren and Sanders avoided clashing with each other and instead teamed up to swat down attacks from moderates who warned the radical overhaul would doom the party in 2020. The tag-team has also allowed Warren to try to position herself as a viable progressive alternative to the Sanders fans who fueled his insurgent candidacy in 2016.

“It doesn't matter that it's not her plan,” said Angel Padilla, the national policy director of the progressive group Indivisible. “What matters is that she's willing to fight for it.”

Medicare for All has been one of the deepest fault lines dividing Democrats early in the 2020 primary, and President Donald Trump and Republicans are eager to tie Democrats to the idea as they try to brand the party as “socialist.”

Warren herself hasn’t always hugged Medicare for All so tightly. Like some presidential candidates who have co-sponsored Sanders’ legislation, she’s also signed onto other Senate bills this year that would more incrementally expand coverage. As recently as late May, she told reporters that she supported “multiple approaches” to expanding coverage and if elected would “pull everyone to the table” to craft a health care plan.

But since the debates started in June, Warren has gone all in on Medicare for All. In the first debate, she promptly raised her hand when candidates were asked if they would abolish private insurance in favor of a government-run system and said, “I’m with Bernie” — her go-to line when asked about it. During this week’s debate, she expanded on her support as she railed against the concept of for-profit health care.

“The basic profit model of an insurance company is taking as much money as you can in premiums and pay out as little as possible in health care coverage,” she said. “That is not working for Americans.”

Though Warren has followed Sanders on expanding coverage, she has led the Democratic field on other health care issues important to the party’s voters. On drug prices, late last year she introduced a unique bill that would let the government make its own generic drugs if companies jacked up prices too high or there were shortages. Her campaign in May also rolled out a detailed plan for protecting abortion rights, pushing back against a wave of restrictive state laws.

Candidates’ health care plans can establish them as a leader on the topic, but it also exposes them to scrutiny from opponents. Moderate Democratic candidates have attacked the Sanders plan over its projected $30 trillion price tag and virtual ban on most private insurance. Sen. Kamala Harris immediately faced an onslaught from the left and right this week after releasing a Medicare for All alternative that relies on private insurers and has a 10-year phase-in period — much longer than Sanders’ four-year transition. Frontrunner Joe Biden took heat in Wednesday's debate over his proposal for adding a government-run “public option” to the Affordable Care Act, with his progressive rivals arguing it would leave too many people uninsured and under-insured.

"Details derail and distract, particularly when it comes to health care,” said a Democratic strategist unaffiliated with a presidential campaign. “If you can get away without doing it, why do it?"

But there are also immediate risks for Warren in tying herself closely to the Sanders plan. Sanders has said that households earning more than $29,000 per year may have to pay an “income-based premium” to finance Medicare for All, though he argues families will pay less overall for health care.

Warren has been less direct about how she would fund government-backed coverage for everyone. When pressed Tuesday night on whether she would raise taxes on the middle class to finance the single-payer system, Warren demurred.

“Giant corporations and billionaires are going to pay more,” she said. “Middle-class families are going to pay less out of pocket for their health care.” When asked a second time about possible tax hikes, she suggested that “total costs will go down” for the middle class as they pay less out of pocket for health care.

Feldman said he thinks it would be risky for Warren not to release her own health coverage plan, but he also thinks it’s too soon to break from Sanders on the issue.

"It’s tricky to go after someone who is so much in your corner on the issues,” the Democratic strategist said. “There are people who are still deciding right now between Bernie and Warren, so if she picks the wrong time to engage with him in a negative way on this, it could hurt her and excite Bernie folks.”

Alex Thompson and Rachana Pradhan contributed to this report.