The debate over health care can seem like an all-or-nothing proposition these days. Either you are replacing private insurance with a single , government-run Medicare for All program, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and his supporters would, or youre not really transforming health care in a way that establishes it as a right rather than a privilege.

But there are other routes to universal coverage, one of which was on display Wednesday when Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) unveiled a new version of legislation they are calling Medicare for America .

Medicare for America envisions creating a comprehensive public insurance plan that would automatically absorb at least half the U.S. population and be open to anybody who wanted to enroll. But the measure would allow employers to keep offering private coverage, giving employees of those firms the option of sticking with a company plan. It would also preserve Medicare Advantage, the privately run version of traditional Medicare that roughly one-third of seniors currently use.

Beto ORourke , the former Democratic congressman from Texas now running for president, has endorsed Medicare for America by name. Other Democratic presidential candidates, such as South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren , have made statements that suggest they might prefer something like Medicare for America even if, as in the case of Warren, they remain co-sponsors of the Sanders bill.