Democrats are now lining up for and against single-payer health care. Big push. Big battle. We’re on it.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. speaks with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. at the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing with governors to discuses ways to stabilize health insurance markets​, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 7. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

Republicans and Democrats are both rolling out health care pushes this week. For the GOP, it's a last-ditch push to repeal and replace Obamacare. For Democrats, it's a push completely in the other direction. A push for single-payer health care. Bernie Sanders is out front. Lots of big Democrats are signing on. Lots of Americans are sick of the way things work now. But is single-payer the way to go? It’s a hot question. Up next, On Point: the Democrats debate single-payer. -- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont U.S. senator. 2016 presidential candidate. (@SenSanders)

Sarah Kliff, senior policy correspondent at Vox, where she covers healthcare (@sarahkliff)

Adam Green, Democratic strategist and co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Progressive Change Institute (@AdamGreen)

Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy and co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way (@ThirdWayKessler)

Tom's Reading List

Politico: Sanders' single-payer push splits Democrats — "As Sanders prepares to unveil his Medicare for All legislation on Wednesday, most of the party’s congressional leaders and vulnerable Senate incumbents are steering clear. Even as the left celebrates Sanders’ ability to push the Democratic agenda leftward after his primary challenge to Hillary Clinton last year, that success appears to have its limits."

CNN: Senate Republicans throw another health care Hail Mary -- "There are no signs that the Graham-Cassidy plan would have momentum after months of exhaustive GOP health care soul searching. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins — two of the most notable hold outs on the last effort — have given no indication they'd sign on. And, Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky who did vote for the "skinny repeal" in July, has said he wouldn't support it. It only takes three Republican senators to object and the bill can't pass under reconciliation."

Washington Post: Single-payer won’t pass now. But its popularity proves our morals are changing. — "There is simply no good reason (much less some titanium law of nature) that precludes us from universally expanding Medicare today, which is precisely what some of its architects had in mind decades ago. Nor must this necessarily hinge on some historic electoral sweep: As Baucus’s astonishing single-payer turn demonstrates, when activists transform the narrative around an issue — when they push a policy to center-stage — smart politicians will follow."