Harris isn’t pushing Medicare for All anymore. Progressives say that’s OK.

Vice President Kamala Harris is no longer a “Medicare for All” champion. Progressives are looking the other way.

Harris co-sponsored Sen. Bernie Sanders ’ Medicare for All legislation when she was a California senator and offered a modified plan as the centerpiece of her short-lived 2020 presidential bid. But a campaign official told POLITICO it is no longer part of Harris’ agenda.

It’s the latest example of Harris shifting to the center of her party, as she’s done on abortion and energy policy . Progressives said they’re disappointed but still support her as she works out the best strategy to defeat former President Donald Trump — even if it means leaving their cause behind.

"When you juxtapose the possibility of disappointment with the possibility of a loss of democracy, I think that I would choose a health policy that doesn't exactly fit my desires every time,” said Gillian Mason, interim executive director at Healthcare-NOW, an advocacy group that supports a single-payer system. Still, Mason said sticking to centrist Democratic health policy “would be a mistake” that could cost Harris key voters.

With the Harris campaign signaling that Medicare for All is not on her agenda, the debate among Democratic policy insiders — made clear in interviews with nine experts and activists, some of whom are in touch with the Harris campaign — is now over whether Harris should stick to touting accomplishments of the Biden administration, or offer a refreshed policy agenda. If Harris wins in November, her decisions would not only define the scope of her administration's policies but also the breadth of the Democratic Party's health care ambitions.

Harris campaign spokesperson Seth Schuster declined to comment on the Medicare-for-All shift but said Harris would take the “same pragmatic approach,” as the Biden administration has on policy, “focusing on common-sense solutions for the sake of progress."

So far, Harris has taken a cautious approach compared to her 2020 primary run, promoting accomplishments she shares with President Joe Biden, such as expanding access to the private insurance plans that serve Obamacare patients and negotiating Medicare drug prices.

She has spoken generally about protecting Obamacare and sent emails asking supporters to sign an open letter backing the Inflation Reduction Act , which for the first time tasked Medicare with negotiating drug prices.

That strategy reflects many Democrats’ concerns that Medicare for All could turn off swing voters who worry it could affect their private health insurance. Polls have found the public is divided . Making it a centerpiece of the Harris campaign, many Democrats fear, could help Trump. They also believe it unlikely even a Democratic Congress would be able to pass it during a Harris presidency.

“The votes just aren't there for Medicare for All,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president of health policy at the nonpartisan health institute KFF.

That belief is shared by many progressives given the current political climate. But there’s still a reason for their support of the candidate, Levitt said — even beyond a need to keep Trump from becoming president: “Medicare for All advocates would have someone in the White House who shares many of their values.”

Biden administration proposals — even those blocked by Republicans, such as capping the cost of insulin in the private market or expanding health programs already in place — are “a big, big, big deal, and an aggressive agenda,” said Leslie Dach, founder and chair of Protect Our Care, an advocacy group trying to reduce costs and increase access to care. "Winning this election is going to be about things we've already accomplished and the things we're on record wanting to do.”

Democrats who win the presidency have historically made far-reaching changes to the health care system central to their campaign pitch. Bill Clinton made ending uninsurance his first priority, as did Barack Obama. Biden vowed to end the pandemic. John F. Kennedy promised health care for lower-income and elderly people, and Lyndon Johnson made creating Medicare and Medicaid a key plank of his Great Society.

Advocates of Medicare for All say they understand why Harris is taking a different approach.

“Of course I would like anybody running for president to say that they want Medicare for All,” said Dr. Ed Weisbart, national board secretary of Physicians for a National Health Program, a nonpartisan group that advocates for a single-payer health care system.

But Weisbart said his efforts aren’t necessarily dependent on a president backing the policy. "If you want progressive change that has to come from the American people,” he said. “Presidents will quickly follow.”

Going bold vs. finishing the job

Progressives still have asks for Harris.

They, alongside others across the ideological spectrum of the party, want her to take the opportunity to forge a new agenda that’s more inspiring to voters, even if it’s not a single-payer system.

“Being aggressive and being bold and having a vision is the way that we win,” said Mason, echoing a point made by Democratic health experts, centrist and progressive alike.

The ideas they’re pushing for vary. A number of advocates want Harris to more aggressively take on big health care corporations, which she pursued as California’s attorney general, focusing on how the government might more actively fight for consumers in the health sector.

They’d like to see plans to improve maternal health, close Medicaid coverage gaps and expand access to telehealth that they are confident will resonate with most voters and could even draw bipartisan support in Congress.

As vice president, Harris was at times the administration’s public face on specific health issues, which could also offer clues to where she might build beyond Biden’s efforts, some policy experts theorized.

She’s often been the messenger for the administration’s efforts to relieve the burden of medical debt, a policy she could continue hammering and even expand, the people said.

Harris has also spoken at length about restoring abortion rights, an issue nearly every Democratic policy expert — regardless of the direction they want the campaign to take — sees as a way for her to differentiate herself and improve her chances of winning the election, even if by only being a stronger messenger on the issue than Biden.

But others in the party said Harris would be wiser to steer clear of new policy proposals and stick with Biden’s, pledging, in his parlance, to “finish the job.”

“We don't need new ideas,” said Dach. “She really should continue this administration's work and not worry too much about creating her own things.”

For now, the Harris campaign is interested in following the administration’s approach.

“The vice president's positions have been shaped,” a Harris campaign adviser, granted anonymity to discuss internal planning, said, “by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.”