--- title: Single-Payer Health Care: What the Senate Vote Meant description: The Senate voted down a stunt proposal to create single-payer health care on Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/4877670/single-payer-health-care-vote/ author: Jack Brewster article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-28T03:26:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:46:22.923Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's What That Vote on Single-Payer Health Care Really Meant og:description: A stunt that revealed some hesitation. og:url: https://time.com/4877670/single-payer-health-care-vote/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50163799db9daba9/6988d1a9ab6d771acf6ae909/bernie-sanders.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-PEOPLE-SUMMIT-SANDERS-politics-progressives-gathering-demonst og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What That Vote on Single-Payer Health Care Really Meant twitter:description: A stunt that revealed some hesitation. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50163799db9daba9/6988d1a9ab6d771acf6ae909/bernie-sanders.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What That Vote on Single-Payer Health Care Really Meant > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b9970509-bb5d-469b-8aa8-0e37d99fdcc0&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jul 28, 2017 3:26 AM UTC  Bernie Sanders speaks at "The People's Summit" in Chicago, June 10, 2017. Bernie Sanders speaks at "The People's Summit" in Chicago, June 10, 2017. JIM YOUNG—AFP/Getty Images by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jul 28, 2017 3:26 AM UTC The Senate voted down a stunt proposal to create single-payer health care on Thursday in a move that revealed where the Democratic Party may be headed. As part of the legislative process to [repeal the Affordable Care Act](http://time.com/4876315/obamacare-senate-skinny-repeal/), senators from both parties were free to force their colleagues to vote on various health care measures. Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, a [critic of single-payer health care](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/27/single-payer-health-care-republicans-241035), used the opportunity to put Democrats on the spot over the idea. Most Democratic senators decided to sit out the vote, and it failed 0-57\. But four Democrats—all from states that went to Donald Trump—joined the 52 Republican senators to vote no on the amendment: Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. (Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, which gave one elector to Trump, also voted against the measure.) The vote came as support for a single-payer health care system is increasing among Democrats. According to a [Pew Research Center poll](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/23/public-support-for-single-payer-health-coverage-grows-driven-by-democrats/) in June, 52 percent of Democrats now think health insurance should be provided by a single government-run system. A [majority of House Democrats](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/27/single-payer-health-care-republicans-241035) now back a “Medicare for All” bill that would create something like single-payer. Democratic Sens. [Elizabeth Warren](https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/06/27/how-elizabeth-warren-turned-into-enthusiastic-supporter-single-payer-health-care/Uk8rAaRcoOIIiQWa7nDkBN/story.html), [Cory Booker and Kamala Harris](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/us/democrats-universal-health-care-single-payer-party.html?%5Fr=0) are among the few who have expressed support for single-payer. On Thursday, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said he was “interested” in single-payer and said that he looked forward to seeing how it works out in individual states–[like California, which has been considering it.](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/28/us/california-today-single-payer-health-insurance.html) “The laboratories of democracy could really have some opportunities,” he said. Another person who has praised single-payer health care? President Trump, who told Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that [“you have better healthcare than we do”](http://time.com/4768359/donald-trump-health-care-australia/) during a May visit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4877670/single-payer-health-care-vote/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4877670/single-payer-health-care-vote/"},"headline":"Here's What That Vote on Single-Payer Health Care Really Meant","datePublished":"2017-07-28T03:26:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:46:22.923Z","description":"The Senate voted down a stunt proposal to create single-payer health care on Thursday.","url":"https://time.com/4877670/single-payer-health-care-vote/","keywords":["Congress","Health Care"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50163799db9daba9/6988d1a9ab6d771acf6ae909/bernie-sanders.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Brewster","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50163799db9daba9/6988d1a9ab6d771acf6ae909/bernie-sanders.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-PEOPLE-SUMMIT-SANDERS-politics-progressives-gathering-demonst","caption":"US-PEOPLE-SUMMIT-SANDERS-politics-progressives-gathering-demonst","creditText":"JIM YOUNG—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4877670/single-payer-health-care-vote/","name":"Here's What That Vote on Single-Payer Health Care Really Meant"}}]}] ```