Universal healthcare in the US is not a new idea. It was first proposed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. In fact the Medicare system was initially intended to be expanded to cover all Americans. The idea was to start with the elderly who were more expensive for insurance companies to cover anyway. Then expand it to cover children and maternal care. But it never came to pass.

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https://theintercept.com/2017/03/31/bernie-sanders-wants-to-expand-medicare-to-everybody-exactly-what-its-architects-wanted/