Hillary Clinton offers new health care proposals in nod to Bernie Sanders

(Clinton made a public option part of her campaign proposal to reform health care in 2008.) But Saturday’s announcement, campaign aides say, is a reminder of how seriously she takes the idea ― and her determination to promote it as president.

Still, according to multiple reports, Sanders is expected to endorse Clinton on Tuesday in New Hampshire.

That’s one of the main issues Sanders said he was looking for Clinton to shift on in order to give an endorsement.

While the Vermont senator has said he would vote for Clinton in November, he has withheld his endorsement of the presumptive Democratic nominee as the two campaigns engage in negotiations over policy details for the Democratic Party’s official platform.

The health care proposal follows on Clinton’s recent announcement of new ways to tackle college affordability, including a plan that ensures families with annual incomes up to $125,000 pay no tuition at in-state public colleges and universities.

Of particular interest is the push for government provided public options, which Clinton had yet to explicitly endorse.

“The proposal brought forth today by Secretary Clinton, working with our campaign, is an important step forward in expanding healthcare in America – and expanding health insurance and healthcare access to tens of millions of Americans”, he said in a statement. She affirmed support for the so-called “public option”, which would expand health insurance coverage beyond the current provisions in Obamacare.

Both Clinton and Sanders oppose TPP but Sanders has been more vocal, saying the deal hurts American workers.

They called for increasing mandatory health care funding under the Affordable Care Act by $40 billion over the next 10 years.

The setback for Sanders comes after he succeeded in getting the party to support a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, a major priority for his campaign. Though the 1993 plan, colloquially dubbed Hillarycare, ultimately failed, Clinton’s lobbying was pivotal in the success and implementation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

About one in 14 Americans now gets health care through a federally funded clinic, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. She has supported a $12-an-hour federal minimum wage, as well as local efforts to set higher minimum wages in places like NY and California.

“We are very disappointed”, said Sanders top policy adviser Warren Gunnells.

Clinton backed the TPP as Secretary of State, but flip-flopped on the issue during the primary and now opposes it. Sanders supports reinstating the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited commercial banks from engaging in investment banking activities. Sanders said the centers offer savings to the overall health care system of $49 billion a year, and access to health care when people need it avoids costly illnesses, hospital stays and trips to the emergency room.

“The party strengthened language initially proposed by the platform drafting committee, eliminating the reference to some Democrats supporting the TPP”, the union detailed in a press release.