As far as I can tell, the Democratic Party is not in favor of a single-payer health care system. Dennis Kucinich proposed one ("Medicare for all!") in the 2004 primaries and, as you'll recall, he wasn't a major contender. None of the other candidates did. Several of the major liberal think tanks have come up with health care proposals in the past twelve months, and none of them have endorsed a single-payer system. So as an objection to the Democratic Party this is a slightly odd one.

• There was this one fellow named Senator Edward Kennedy (perhaps you've heard of him? I hear he's big (har!) among Democrats—who said "I propose that, as a 40th birthday gift to the American people, we expand Medicare over the next decade to cover every citizen from birth to the end of life. ... I call this approach Medicare for all..."



• The obscure New York Times Columnist Paul Krugman wrote that a "system in which the government provides universal health insurance is often referred to as "single payer," but I like Ted Kennedy's slogan "Medicare for all." It reminds voters that America already has a highly successful, popular single-payer program, albeit only for the elderly. ... reformers will do best with a straightforward single-payer plan..."



• Al Gore (remember him?) has said that "we should begin drafting a single-payer national health insurance plan".



• Ezra Klein, now one of Matt Yglesias' co-workers at the American Prospect, wrote that the "idea of a government takeover in health care turns folks off, at which point we have to explain that no, the government isn't taking over health care, just all forms of health insurance... ... That's why Medicare-for-All is such a great banner."



• And even the fellow to which Matt originally linked—Kevin Drum—has written "I'm not sure that "Medicare for all" is the best answer, but it's a start. [Most] people do look forward to the day they qualify for Medicare. If national healthcare is such an abomination, why is that?"