On Monday, Joe Biden released his presidential campaign's health-care policy proposal. The former vice president's plan looks to build on the more popular parts of Obamacare, like protection for people with preexisting conditions, with some major changes like allowing people to buy a government-run insurance plan.

According to Politico, Biden's plan would also empower the federal government to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices, and it would allow permit the importation of cheaper drugs from other countries, two things the Obama administration originally ceded to win the support of the drug industry. Biden's campaign estimates that the total cost of their plan would be $750 billion over 10 years, with a portion paid off by reversing recent Republican-led tax cuts for the rich, and would provide coverage for people living in states that rejected the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, according to the Washington Post.

It simultaneously lets Biden campaign on former president Barack Obama's legacy while also giving him leverage against calls from activists, progressives, and health-care professionals for a complete overhaul of the country's health-care system. Polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation has found that public support for a single-payer health-care system—something like Medicare for All, the program backed by Vermont senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, that eliminates the need for private insurance—is currently at 56 percent and hasn't dipped below 50 since early 2016.

The Biden camp hasn't given a lot of specifics yet, but the plan is already inspiring some skepticism. At People's Policy Project, analyst Matt Bruenig estimates that based on the rough numbers the Biden campaign provides, as many as 125,000 people could die from lack of insurance in the first 10 years compared to plan with universal coverage. Bruenig writes that "Biden’s plan has the same problem as any other plan that does not create a national health insurance system: it causes enormous amounts of insurance churn and instability, further immiserating people when they face hardships like loss of job, loss of spouse, loss of Medicaid due to income increase, and every other negative life event."

In a video his campaign released Monday, Biden says, "I understand the appeal of Medicare for All, but folks supporting it should be clear that it means getting rid of Obamacare, and I’m not for that. I was very proud the day I stood there with Barack Obama, and he signed that legislation." He adds, "Starting over makes no sense to me at all."