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Hear that crunching sound? It’s the eggshells that 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls are stomping through, backing up and stomping upon all over again, as they attempt to satisfy the base’s delicate demands for Medicare-for-all. The left-wing die-hards sometimes argue that supporting Medicare-for-all should be a litmus test for anyone seeking the 2020 nomination because it’s not only good policy but good politics, too. The entrenched establishment may claim  it’s a “radical” idea, but surveys suggest it is mainstream. (Catherine Rampell, 2/4)

Announcing that, as President, she would “eliminate” private health insurance from the American marketplace puts Harris to the left of the British Labour Party, most French socialists, and even increasing parts of Sweden’s system. In fact, as Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs noted on Twitter, her plan puts her to the left of Aneurin Bevan, one of the founders of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS). (Raheen Kassam, 2/4)

Guess who is now claiming, at least implicitly, that Obamacare isn’t working? Democrats.That’s the silent premise on which the argument in favor of “Medicare for All” rests. And it is reasonably clear that the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee will be running on Medicare for All. (Robert Robb, 2/4)

When then-President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law in the summer of 1965, he declared, “No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine.” Johnson’s pledge was as prophetic as it was audacious: Medicare fundamentally transformed health care, giving seniors unprecedented access to the medicine and services they need to live longer, healthier lives. That promise now hangs in the balance. (Former Gov. Howard Dean, 2/4)