In February, I assembled, from a Twitter thread, a piece countering claims by Hillary Clinton's personality cult--still hanging in there after all these years--that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders "stole" the idea of an indexed $15 minimum wage from Clinton and documenting the fact that Sanders was the one who had taken that idea mainstream at a time when most elected officials wouldn't touch it and made it not only a consensus view within the Democratic party but the official position of that party. Clinton never advocated the policy and, in fact, tried, right to the bitter end, to undercut and defeat Sanders' proposal. I addressed some of the Clinton cult's talking-points, "the Clinton Cult Rules":
"One holds that progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is just a blowhard who has never accomplished anything, accompanied by reference to a sparse number of bills Sanders has sponsored in congress that have been passed into law, usually with a dismissive reference to 'naming post-offices.' The attack is often expanded to include other progressive pols. Another is that Sanders 'steals' ideas and tries to take credit for them--also regularly expanded to other progressives."Because the cult persists, these talking-points do as well, and one version is that Sanders "stole" the idea of single-payer healthcare--Medicare For All. Sometimes, he's said to have "stolen" it from Hillary Clinton, sometimes from "Democrats," sometimes from the late John Conyers, longtime Michigan congressman.
As with so many other such claims, I've addressed this many times on social media. What I'm going to do here, in fact, is mostly made up of my notes from those occasions. Back in 2018, I wrote "A Little History of Healthcare Reform" a brief effort to correct a cultist who insisted that Clinton "was the one who first brought [single payer healthcare] to the national stage" and, more generally, that Clinton was "the first person in America to get the idea of a federal government supported healthcare system to the national stage." Admittedly, low-hanging fruit. Perhaps this one, which will act as a sort of sequel, is as well but these claims continue to circulate. I have some time on my hands today and after encountering the four-quadrillionth reiteration of the cult's claim that Bernie Sanders the Do-Nothing "stole" the idea for universal healthcare ("stole" it from Clinton in today's iteration), I decided I'd make another article of it, collect the relevant facts in a single location for anyone who cares.
The current dust-up began when Sanders offered up some ideas on healthcare reform. Author Joyce Carol Oates, referencing this, tweeted, "A political leader is one who has substantial policies to offer voters; politicians are those who call one another names, promise to punish anyone who disagrees with them, & have no policies to offer." A cultist immediately turned up with the usual nonsense, Oates replied and we're off to the races:
Something that shouldn't really have to be pointed out--but, because we're dealing with Clintonites, must be pointed out--is that there's no intellectual property in public policy. No one ever holds any such property. That anyone even could is an astonishingly silly, uninformed idea. Politics is about proposing a policy then trying to get enough people to agree with it that it can be passed into law. Anyone who wants to see a given policy enacted doesn't, when other people adopt and push for it, angrily make some proprietary claim on it he doesn't have; he is, rather, delighted to see other people adopt and push for it. It means the idea is spreading and is closer to the day it can be enacted. National healthcare programs of the kind being discussed in this article have been around since the 19th century. No one who first proposed them is alive anymore. No one is going to get huffy is the U.S. passes one without naming it after Otto von Bismarck or fill-in-one's-preference.
Now, some history:
When, in 1971, Sanders first ran for governor of Vermont--his first political campaign--he was already advocating single-payer healthcare. In the words of the Bennington Banner (3 Jan., 1972), Sanders "called for a complete system of national healthcare for all citizens."
In that same campaign, Sanders would write a letter to the local Vermont Freeman, Sanders called for "free and excellent medical and dental care for all."
During Sanders' 2nd presidential campaign in 2019, the New York Times described how Sanders threw himself into studying the issue throughout the course of his various campaigns in the '70s. "I believe in socialized medicine," he said in 1976. He continued to advocate the idea after being elected mayor of Burlington in 1981, assembling a task-force to study it.
In 1988, when Jesse Jackson ran for president, Sanders became one of the first prominent politicians to endorse him, citing, as part of his reason for doing so, that Jackson would "move to establish a national health care system which will provide health care as a human right."
In 1988, when Jesse Jackson ran for president, Sanders became one of the first prominent politicians to endorse him, citing, as part of his reason for doing so, that Jackson would "move to establish a national health care system which will provide health care as a human right."
In 1990, Sanders was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Less than four months after assuming office, he announced he was working on single-payer legislation. A few weeks later--at a time when Hillary Clinton was still nothing more than the nobody wife of an obscure, corrupt Southern governor--he introduced the National Healthcare and Cost Containment Act. Written by Steffie Woolhandler of Physicians for a National Health Program, who was working on Sanders staff, the bill would have created a single-payer delivery system to be administered by the states.
A year later, Michigan Rep. John Conyers introduced his first single-payer bill, the Health Care for Every American Act of 1992, which seemed to be modeled on the earlier Sanders legislation. This is relevant for a few reasons. Conyers and Sanders would become part of a core group in congress who, for years, advocated single-payer healthcare while getting very little support. It's also the case that Sanders is regularly accused by Clintonites of "stealing" Conyers' idea, though those throwing this around usually refer to Conyers as only "a black man," to get in a race-baiting dig at Sanders without, themselves, giving the actual black man any credit by naming him (something one suspects they wouldn't be able to do anyway). On this policy, Sanders was there first, but the two men didn't consider themselves rivals on the issue; they worked to pass single-payer for years, in a congress that was a wilderness for those supporting such things. Each referred to the other as a friend. When Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign made him a brand-name, Sanders traveled to Conyers' district to use his celebrity to campaign with Conyers for Medicare For All.
Shortly after he was elected president, Bill Clinton appointed his wife to run his task force on healthcare reform--Hillary Clinton's first involvement with the policy, over 20 years after Sanders began advocating single-payer--and Sanders, within days, visited the Clintons to lobby for their support for single-payer. Unsuccessfully, of course.
In March 1993, more than 6 months before the roll-out of Clinton's "Hillarycare" plan, Sanders and Conyers became original co-sponsors of Washington Rep. Jim McDermott's American Health Security Act, a single-payer plan.
Then came Hillarycare.
There are some popular misconceptions about the Clinton plan but maybe the most surprising is that so many believe it was a single-payer plan. This isn't a Clintonite myth, though some Clintonites believe it, and it forms the basis of the false belief by some that Sanders "stole" the policy from Clinton. I've never been able to track it down to an original source, but whatever its origin, it's entirely false. Hillarycare was an industry-friendly "managed competition" plan, similar to things the Republicans had been pitching. As Clinton herself has said, "I never seriously considered a single payer system." Her proposal is also called a "universal healthcare" plan, but while that is how it was marketed, this, too, is false; the plan would have left millions of Americans with nothing. Some Clinton cultists try to attribute to Clinton the broad idea of "universal healthcare" so as to not only give her undeserved credit but bolster a contention that this was an idea Sanders "stole" from her, but the idea of "universal healthcare" long predates the entrance of either Sanders or, especially, Clinton into politics.[*] Social-media Clinton cultists often say Sanders voted against and was even responsible for killing Hillarycare, but--again--that's false. Hillarycare was a bureaucratic nightmare, the effort to pass it a fiasco. It was so bad it died without ever getting to a vote, because none of the four versions of it that were introduced could--in a congress dominated by Democrats--even manage majority support, much less the supermajority required to overcome a filibuster.
Jim McDermott, meanwhile, would reintroduce his single-payer bill in every congress for years, with Sanders and Conyers as co-sponsors--1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005. In the middle of that--in 2003--John Conyers introduced the Expanded and Improved Medicare For All Act, first using that "Medicare For All" label. Bernie Sanders and Jim McDermott were co-sponsors. As with McDermott's legislation, Conyers would reintrodue this bill in every congress; Sanders co-sponsored the 2005 version, the last before he left the House and was elected to the Senate.
In the Senate, Sanders introduced the American Health Security Act of 2009. In 2009 and 2010, he introduced two bills aimed at fostering the development of single-payer plans by the states. In 2011, he teamed up with McDermott to simultaneously introduce a single-payer bill in the House and Senate. In 2013, he introduced it again and authored a prescient op-ed in which he argued the case that "the only long-term solution to America's healthcare crisis is a single-payer national healthcare program."
During his first presidential campaign in 2016, Sanders not only introduced a Medicare For All plan but made it one of his signature issues. Hillary Clinton opposed it, slanderously accusing Sanders of wanting to repeal Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, everything, then try to pass his new plan, at one point infamously screeching like some insane Alex Jones-ite monster about how single payer "will never, ever come to pass!!!"
Hard to believe Clinton lost that election, eh?
While the U.S. is without a Medicare For All system, Sanders' advocacy still tangibly paid off. While the polls that bothered to ask have, for decades, shown broad public support for the policy in theory and there had been longstanding activist base support for it, there was almost no advocacy for it from the highest echelons of either government or corporate media. Sanders changed this. The most recent of Sanders' single-payer bills prior to his 2016 run had managed only one Senate supporter: Sanders himself. John Conyers' plan, the most popular in the House at the time, had only 49 co-sponsors. When, after that race, Sanders introduced single-payer again, it drew the support of 16 senators, a third of the Senate Democratic caucus. In the House, 124 signed on to it, the most in that bill's history. It remains to be seen how many of those legislators are serious about the policy and how many are just opportunistically latching on to the policy to reap the political benefits of appearing to support it--cynicism on that question is advisable--but it's because of Sanders that there are political benefits for appearing to support it.
While most of his Democratic peers in government offer either nothing at all or unsustainable "reforms" aimed solely at staving off actual reform a little longer on behalf of the rapacious donor-class that profits from the status quo and that funds them, Sanders has led the way, pushing progressive reforms into a "mainstream" political culture that shuns them, and on this issue, as he has on so many others, he's managed to move the needle. Americans have an unfortunate habit of trying to put off big reforms until the situation that necessitates them becomes rather grim but when the healthcare future finally arrives, it's going to be something that looks an awful lot like what Bernie Sanders has been pitching for the last five decades.
--j.
---
[*] A good, brief 2021 article by Arthur Tarley in Current Affairs outlines how a Democratic party hegemonically controlled by Clintonite-right Democrats who oppose single-payer have nevertheless adopted most of the language of single-payer (including "universal healthcare" and "healthcare as a right"), effectively turning it into an empty marketing slogan for policies to which it doesn't at all apply.
A year later, Michigan Rep. John Conyers introduced his first single-payer bill, the Health Care for Every American Act of 1992, which seemed to be modeled on the earlier Sanders legislation. This is relevant for a few reasons. Conyers and Sanders would become part of a core group in congress who, for years, advocated single-payer healthcare while getting very little support. It's also the case that Sanders is regularly accused by Clintonites of "stealing" Conyers' idea, though those throwing this around usually refer to Conyers as only "a black man," to get in a race-baiting dig at Sanders without, themselves, giving the actual black man any credit by naming him (something one suspects they wouldn't be able to do anyway). On this policy, Sanders was there first, but the two men didn't consider themselves rivals on the issue; they worked to pass single-payer for years, in a congress that was a wilderness for those supporting such things. Each referred to the other as a friend. When Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign made him a brand-name, Sanders traveled to Conyers' district to use his celebrity to campaign with Conyers for Medicare For All.
Shortly after he was elected president, Bill Clinton appointed his wife to run his task force on healthcare reform--Hillary Clinton's first involvement with the policy, over 20 years after Sanders began advocating single-payer--and Sanders, within days, visited the Clintons to lobby for their support for single-payer. Unsuccessfully, of course.
In March 1993, more than 6 months before the roll-out of Clinton's "Hillarycare" plan, Sanders and Conyers became original co-sponsors of Washington Rep. Jim McDermott's American Health Security Act, a single-payer plan.
Then came Hillarycare.
There are some popular misconceptions about the Clinton plan but maybe the most surprising is that so many believe it was a single-payer plan. This isn't a Clintonite myth, though some Clintonites believe it, and it forms the basis of the false belief by some that Sanders "stole" the policy from Clinton. I've never been able to track it down to an original source, but whatever its origin, it's entirely false. Hillarycare was an industry-friendly "managed competition" plan, similar to things the Republicans had been pitching. As Clinton herself has said, "I never seriously considered a single payer system." Her proposal is also called a "universal healthcare" plan, but while that is how it was marketed, this, too, is false; the plan would have left millions of Americans with nothing. Some Clinton cultists try to attribute to Clinton the broad idea of "universal healthcare" so as to not only give her undeserved credit but bolster a contention that this was an idea Sanders "stole" from her, but the idea of "universal healthcare" long predates the entrance of either Sanders or, especially, Clinton into politics.[*] Social-media Clinton cultists often say Sanders voted against and was even responsible for killing Hillarycare, but--again--that's false. Hillarycare was a bureaucratic nightmare, the effort to pass it a fiasco. It was so bad it died without ever getting to a vote, because none of the four versions of it that were introduced could--in a congress dominated by Democrats--even manage majority support, much less the supermajority required to overcome a filibuster.
Jim McDermott, meanwhile, would reintroduce his single-payer bill in every congress for years, with Sanders and Conyers as co-sponsors--1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005. In the middle of that--in 2003--John Conyers introduced the Expanded and Improved Medicare For All Act, first using that "Medicare For All" label. Bernie Sanders and Jim McDermott were co-sponsors. As with McDermott's legislation, Conyers would reintrodue this bill in every congress; Sanders co-sponsored the 2005 version, the last before he left the House and was elected to the Senate.
In the Senate, Sanders introduced the American Health Security Act of 2009. In 2009 and 2010, he introduced two bills aimed at fostering the development of single-payer plans by the states. In 2011, he teamed up with McDermott to simultaneously introduce a single-payer bill in the House and Senate. In 2013, he introduced it again and authored a prescient op-ed in which he argued the case that "the only long-term solution to America's healthcare crisis is a single-payer national healthcare program."
During his first presidential campaign in 2016, Sanders not only introduced a Medicare For All plan but made it one of his signature issues. Hillary Clinton opposed it, slanderously accusing Sanders of wanting to repeal Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, everything, then try to pass his new plan, at one point infamously screeching like some insane Alex Jones-ite monster about how single payer "will never, ever come to pass!!!"
Hard to believe Clinton lost that election, eh?
While the U.S. is without a Medicare For All system, Sanders' advocacy still tangibly paid off. While the polls that bothered to ask have, for decades, shown broad public support for the policy in theory and there had been longstanding activist base support for it, there was almost no advocacy for it from the highest echelons of either government or corporate media. Sanders changed this. The most recent of Sanders' single-payer bills prior to his 2016 run had managed only one Senate supporter: Sanders himself. John Conyers' plan, the most popular in the House at the time, had only 49 co-sponsors. When, after that race, Sanders introduced single-payer again, it drew the support of 16 senators, a third of the Senate Democratic caucus. In the House, 124 signed on to it, the most in that bill's history. It remains to be seen how many of those legislators are serious about the policy and how many are just opportunistically latching on to the policy to reap the political benefits of appearing to support it--cynicism on that question is advisable--but it's because of Sanders that there are political benefits for appearing to support it.
While most of his Democratic peers in government offer either nothing at all or unsustainable "reforms" aimed solely at staving off actual reform a little longer on behalf of the rapacious donor-class that profits from the status quo and that funds them, Sanders has led the way, pushing progressive reforms into a "mainstream" political culture that shuns them, and on this issue, as he has on so many others, he's managed to move the needle. Americans have an unfortunate habit of trying to put off big reforms until the situation that necessitates them becomes rather grim but when the healthcare future finally arrives, it's going to be something that looks an awful lot like what Bernie Sanders has been pitching for the last five decades.
--j.
---
[*] A good, brief 2021 article by Arthur Tarley in Current Affairs outlines how a Democratic party hegemonically controlled by Clintonite-right Democrats who oppose single-payer have nevertheless adopted most of the language of single-payer (including "universal healthcare" and "healthcare as a right"), effectively turning it into an empty marketing slogan for policies to which it doesn't at all apply.
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