Bernie Sanders pushes Medicare for All as Joe Biden looks for a fight over health

Jul. 17--Bernie Sanders is hoping to revive his sagging campaign by trumpeting his Medicare-for-All plan -- but Democratic front-runner Joe Biden also sounds like he's itching to rumble over health care.

The rumpled Vermont senator plans to issue a full-throated defense Wednesday of his proposal to basically turn the popular Medicare program for older Americans into universal health insurance.

By reminding Democrats that he is the most unapologetic progressive when it comes to health care, Sanders hopes to recapture his faded lefty magic and reverse a demoralizing slide in the polls.

"We must provide quality health care to every man, woman and child in America in a cost-effective way," Sanders said Tuesday at George Washington University in Washington D.C. "And that is what Medicare for All is all about.

Sanders also challenged the rest of the Democratic field to reject donations from health insurance and pharmaceutical industry figures, cash that he says is corrupting the debate.

Curiously, Biden and other moderates may welcome Bernie's Medicare-for-All push. They hope to use Sanders as a foil to reach out to more moderate voters.

Biden made a major push on health care this week himself, promoting his plan to improve Obamacare as a more effective path to improve Americans' health care. He even claimed that pushing for Medicare for All may ruin Medicare by transforming it into an unwieldy and costly national insurance plan.

"Dropping 300 million people on a totally new plan, I think is a little risky at this point," Biden said at an Iowa campaign stop.

A clash with Sanders and other progressives may showcase Biden's ability to win over moderates and independents, a key part of his pitch to Democratic primary voters.

"I'm anxious to have that debate," Biden told NBC News, lumping other top-tier candidates together. "That's a legitimate difference we have between me -- and where apparently everyone from Kamala to Bernie to Elizabeth are."

The skirmish between Sanders and Biden suggests health care may wind up being the dominant story line leading up to the second Democratic debate set for July 30 and 31 in Detroit.

What's not known now, of course, is whether either of the candidate's pitches is going to fly with voters and debate-watchers.

Elizabeth Warren stole Sanders' fire in the first debate with an impassioned and detail-oriented performance. Sanders, on the other hand, looked angry and shrill -- and failed to produce many specifics.

It's possible the same dynamic will play out again in Detroit unless Bernie can figure out a way to make his Medicare for All pitch more attractive to progressives than Warren's.

Biden, who got his lunch eaten by Kamala Harris in Miami, may hope to get on the front foot by presenting his own more moderate proposals on health care.

But it's not clear that attacking Medicare for All as too radical is going to be a winning hand when the audience is Democratic voters enraged at President Trump's efforts to dismantle Obamacare among other issues.

Less clear is how other candidates may respond to the feud over health care. Fellow moderates like Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar may seek to piggyback on Biden's critique of Medicare for All.

Harris will be looking to clean up her perceived inconsistencies on the issue. She raised her hand when asked at the first debate if she was OK with Medicare for All even if it meant eliminating employer-provided private health insurance, but later claimed she meant private insurance would become mostly unnecessary.

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