Is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' idea to give Americans "Medicare for all" the bad idea that so many other politicians and media commentators claim it is?

As one who has editorially promoted a national single-payer health care system for the better part of my newspaper career, I suggest that most of the naysayers don't know what they're talking about.

The single-payer idea — and that's what Medicare is for Americans over the age of 65 — has been around since 1948 when Harry Truman was president. Truman viewed it as a needed complement to Franklin D. Roosevelt's social reforms, including the establishment of Social Security.

It's been proposed several times since, but the medical establishment, including the insurance and pharmaceutical powers, has become so entrenched and influential that Congress has never given it serious consideration.

It's curious that opposition to single-payer universal health coverage is a uniquely American malady. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, has had it for decades and Canadians like to point out that not one of their citizens has ever gone bankrupt because he or she got sick. We can't say that in the U.S., where tens of thousands of families have been financially devastated by unconscionably uncovered medical bills.