Sanders-endorsed Senate candidate knocked for alleged flip-flop to 'have it both ways' on key issue

By Fox News · Fox News

A Democratic Senate candidate endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is being slammed for allegedly flip-flopping on one of his primary campaign issues. Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive candidate who previously ran an unsuccessful bid for Michigan governor , has made Medicare for All a hallmark of his Senate campaign. However, as the Michigan Senate primary race heats up, El-Sayed’s Democratic opponent, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, is accusing him of backing down from a full Medicare for all stance and of "rewriting definitions to have it both ways." MEET THE NEW 'SQUAD': THE NEXT GENERATION OF TRUMP-ERA PROGRESSIVE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES Roxie Richner, an El-Sayed campaign spokesperson, responded by telling Fox News Digital that "Dr. El-Sayed is and has always been for Medicare for All—guaranteed public health insurance for every American. Cradle to grave. No premiums, deductibles, or co-pays." "Dr. El-Sayed would be the first Democratic doctor elected to the U.S. Senate since 1969, and he looks forward to passing Medicare for All into law," added Richner. El-Sayed’s campaign website page on "A Healthier America" cites a book he co-authored in 2021 in which he wrote that limiting private alternatives to Medicare for All would be important to ensuring providers accepted the insurance. The book advocates for Medicare for All as a type of "monopsony" in healthcare, in which there is only a single buyer of medical services, the government. "By insuring all Americans, M4A becomes a monopsony in healthcare. This is different from a monopoly, where there's only one seller of a good; in a monopsony there's only one buyer of a good. That gives the single buyer considerable negotiating leverage, which Medicare could use to rein in the cost of drugs, hospital stays, and physician services," the book reads. In a November post on X , El-Sayed explained that this monopsony "would instantaneously create a disciplining feature against rising prices," because it "takes out the p…