“Medicare for All” got a hearing Wednesday before a powerful House panel, in a fresh sign that the issue is finding traction in Washington.

The House Ways and Means Committee’s chairman, Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, has “provided an olive branch to the Medicare for All advocates to hold such a hearing,” said analysts at Beacon Policy Advisor in a note Wednesday.

Neal’s move comes as more than a quarter of the Democratic Party’s 24 presidential hopefuls are embracing “Medicare for All” proposals, and a House bill on the issue has attracted more than 100 Democratic co-sponsors.

To be sure, top Democratic lawmakers aren’t fully embracing it. Neal on Wednesday stressed that “Medicare for All” was just one of the health-care proposals under consideration.

“We will hear about a range of ideas today — ways to strengthen existing law, the addition of a lower-cost public option, Medicare/Medicaid buy-ins, Medicare for America and Medicare for All,” Neal said in his opening statement at the hearing, which was titled “Pathways to Universal Health Coverage.”

This careful positioning by Neal comes after the first-ever Capitol Hill hearing on Medicare for All was held in April before the House Rules Committee. Analysts said the selection of the rules panel represented an effort by top Democratic lawmakers to sideline the issue, and Beacon‘s team continued to sound downbeat overall Wednesday on the Medicare for All’s prospects.

Neal offered an olive branch to activists, but the hearing’s “focus on ‘universal health care’ and not any specific single-payer bill, like the Medicare for All Act of 2019, is a strong reminder that single-payer health care has no room to move forward in the near term even in the Democratically-controlled House, outside of committee hearings,” the Beacon analysts wrote.

Related:What ‘Medicare for All’ would do to the health-care sector

And see:How Bernie Sanders says he would fund ‘Medicare for All’

Republicans, meanwhile, sounded on Wednesday like they relished the opportunity to talk about Medicare for All. The GOP has been eager to put a spotlight on the issue, seeing it as a chance to pummel Democrats for plotting to eliminate job-provided health coverage and raise taxes.

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for fulfilling your commitment to hold a hearing on the dangerous and controversial Medicare for All,” Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady, the House Ways and Means Committee’s ranking member, said to Neal during the hearing. “While our American health-care system does have real problems, we should focus on improving what’s working and fix what’s broken, rather than starting over with a massive socialized medicine scheme that will leave many families worse off.”

Related:Democratic presidential hopeful Moulton: ‘Medicare for All’ akin to eliminating FedEx, UPS

Among the witnesses at the hearing was Rebecca Wood, a Medicare for All advocate who testified about being unable to pay for her own health care because of huge medical bills for her 7-year-old daughter, who needs special treatments and therapies after being born prematurely at 26 weeks.

“I can only afford to seek medical care when I happen to be volunteering at a free clinic or when I’m afraid an ailment will kill me,” Wood said. “Forget preventative care — I’m simply trying not to die.”