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The major battleground-state Democrats running to flip the Senate want nothing to do with "Medicare for All." In states like Arizona, Iowa and North Carolina, challengers Mark Kelly, Theresa Greenfield and Cal Cunningham are staying tightly focused on the health care message House Democrats used in 2018: expanding Medicaid, protecting Obamacare and slamming Republican repeal efforts. Incumbents like Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) are aligned similarly, backing proposals like a public health insurance option but declining to embrace a single national insurance plan. (Ollstein and Arkin, 8/25)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 White House hopeful, on Sunday dismissed criticism that he is backtracking on his "Medicare For All" plan. "We have not changed one word," Sanders said of the plan on CNN's "State of the Union" when asked about "2020 rivals" attacking him for tweaking its impact on union workers. (Klar, 8/25)

The uninsured rate is rising for the first time since ObamaCare passed, two recent studies show, alarming advocates who fear the problem could get worse. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in July show there were 2.1 million more uninsured people between 2016 and 2018. And a study from the Urban Institute this month, using Census Bureau data, found 700,000 more uninsured people just between 2016 and 2017. (Sullivan, 8/25)

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are vowing to put in place a controversial approach to stopping drug overdoses if elected. Both Democratic presidential candidates endorsed supervised injection sites this week, a stance that conflicts with the federal government's objection to allowing so-called "safe" locations that let drug users inject heroin and other drugs. (Hellmann, 8/25)

During a campaign speech Friday, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said the problem of declining life expectancy should be a top issue for politicians — but it doesn’t seem to be. “This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis, and yet it’s being treated with silence and neglect in Washington,” said Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind. Buttigieg is campaigning in New Hampshire this weekend, talking about “diseases of despair” like addiction, and talking up the mental health plan his campaign unveiled Friday. (Albertson-Grove, 8/23)