"Medicare for All" is an umbrella political slogan, backed by many different interpretations, timelines, and concrete policy proposals. This article is about t

"Medicare for All" is an umbrella political slogan, backed by many different interpretations, timelines, and concrete policy proposals. This article is about the Sanders plan, which is radical (in the non-judgmental sense). It is more generous/costly than typical non-US single-payer systems, such as Canada's. Even Medicare itself incorporates private insurance, via "Medicare Plus". So "abolish private insurance" is actually an outlier position among the Democratic field and is not implied by a naive interpretation of "Medicare for All".