McCaskill won’t back Bernie Sanders’ push to expand Medicare for all

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri won’t be among the Democrats backing U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan to expand Medicare to cover all Americans.

As of Wednesday Morning, 15 Democratic senators had signed on as co-sponsor for the Vermont independent and former presidential candidate’s bill to establish a single-payer health care system by expanding Medicare, which provides health coverage for seniors, to cover all Americans.

McCaskill is not one of them and she’s not planning on changing that position any time soon, according to her office.

McCaskill, who is up for re-election next year in a state President Donald Trump won by 19 points, expressed reservations about the concept at a town hall in Warrensburg last month, telling attendees that it would be “irresponsible of us to expand the program that is driving the debt the most in a way that is unsustainable financially for this country.”

The Missouri Democrat made these comments before rumored high-profile Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, had joined Sanders in supporting the legislation that has been estimated to cost $32 trillion over 10 years.

Sarah Feldman, a spokesman for McCaskill, said Wednesday that the Missourian’s opposition to the bill had not changed.

“Claire’s concerns remain the same, which is why she does not support the Sanders bill,” Feldman said in an email.

This story was originally published September 13, 2017 at 11:23 AM with the headline "McCaskill won’t back Bernie Sanders’ push to expand Medicare for all."