Sen. Bernie Sanders has won over several big-name Democrats and rumored 2020 presidential candidates for his new universal health care bill, but many of his more vulnerable colleagues remain unconvinced.



The Independent senator from Vermont introduced a Medicare-for-all bill Wednesday that would provide free health care to all residents of the United States and relegate the private insurance industry to the margins, covering only elective and plastic surgeries.

Sanders’ bill is supported by several high-profile Democrats whose names have been floated as 2020 presidential contenders, though most of the endorsements came from blue-state senators. Big names include Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Al Franken of Minnesota.

In total, 15 Democratic senators have come out in support of the universal health care bill, a sign of the growing popularity of an idea that has conventionally been thought of as a political pipe dream.

But party leadership remains noncommittal, and Democratic senators in swing states have put distance between themselves and Sanders’ plan. Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is up for reelection next year in a state President Donald Trump won by nearly 20 points, said Wednesday that many workers have sacrificed salary increases for better health plans and she would be reluctant to take away those plans.

“[Medicare-for-all] requires people to give up the insurance they have. I’ve been down the road of requiring people to do things the government says on insurance, and it’s a road paved with big, rocky boulders,” said McCaskill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said only that he would be looking at many options to expand health care. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi declined to endorse Sanders’ bill and said the priority right now is protecting Obamacare.

Other Democrats echoed the view that the party should focus on improving the current system rather than creating a new one. “The decision was made in 2009 to go with a market-based system — the question now is how we improve the system we have in a bipartisan way,” North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who is also seeking reelection in 2018, said in a statement.