“A single government health plan should replace private insurance.”

This is back near the center of the 2026 midterms: Bernie Sanders and AOC have been rallying for single-payer candidates like Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed, while cost estimates for a full Medicare for All system range wildly depending on who's counting — from a Yale analysis projecting over $1 trillion in annual savings to conservative estimates putting the added federal cost near $47 trillion over a decade.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (healthcare should be guaranteed, not sold): "Health care is a human right, not a privilege... We must join every other major country in guaranteeing health care for every man, woman and child." Charles Blahous, Mercatus Center economist (the cost makes it a bad bet): calculated federal costs would run $32.6–38.8 trillion over 10 years — more revenue than doubling every current individual and corporate income tax could raise — and concluded that adopting single-payer is "essentially a multi-trillion dollar bet on a long-shot outcome." Girard Miller, policy columnist (a middle path — expand Medicare access without the overhaul): proposes "Medicare at Cost," letting people buy into Medicare at actuarial rates with income-capped premiums instead of full single-payer, arguing "the status quo is unsustainable, but Medicare for All is unachievable without unprecedented Taxes for All."