The record-breaking trip of the USS Gerald Ford, the aircraft carrier at the center of Trump’s military ambitions

2026-04-12T11:00:54.720Z / CNN

By Sean Lyngaas, Zachary Cohen

PUBLISHED Apr 12, 2026, 7:00 AM ET

US Marines walk on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford while underway in the Caribbean Sea, on January 15.

Seaman Paige Brown/USS Gerald R. Ford/US Navy

In mid-March, a fire tore through a compartment of the United States’ largest and most powerful aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.

The ship was floating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, launching aircraft as part of the weeks-old war with Iran, when the blaze broke out in the laundry department. It took the crew 30 hours to put out the fire, clean it up and prevent it from reigniting, and roughly 600 sailors lost access to their bunks due to the damage. They also couldn’t do laundry, though fortunately no sailors were seriously injured.

It was just the latest trial for the crew of the Ford, which is slated, by one count, to break a record this week for the longest deployment for an aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War. The ship has served as the tip of the spear of President Donald Trump’s interventionist foreign policy, from helping capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January to launching waves of aircraft in the Iran war.

Though Trump ran on a platform criticizing US involvement in past wars, his first year back in office has seen a surge in military operations with the Ford playing a prime role.

The combination of missions since the ship pulled away from Virginia in June has included pinballing across the Atlantic, initially heading to the Mediterranean and up to Norway as part of its scheduled trip before being pulled to the Caribbean for the Maduro operation. Then it got ordered to rapidly make its way to aid in a potential Middle East war, stopping briefly to get an issue with the ship’s toilets fixed.

Two days after the fire, the Ford was able to fly sorties again. The ship then headed to Greece for repairs, but was back at sea after an additional stop in Croatia in time to be available for Trump’s threatened day of infrastructure strikes in Iran last week.

A sailor inspects an aircraft catapult launch track on the USS Gerald R. Ford, while underway in the Caribbean Sea, on November 25, 2025.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Gladjimi Balisage/USS Gerald R. Ford/US Navy

The trip, formally extended by the military twice, has weighed on the sailors’ families.

“It’s constant uncertainty that we live on a daily basis,” said Amini Osias, whose daughter is serving on the Ford. Sometimes, he told CNN, “I can hardly sleep.”

The Iranian military’s downing of a US fighter jet this month brought home the dangers of the war to Osias. “That could have been my daughter if she would have joined the Air Force,” he said.

Osias’ daughter is an aviation electrician, he said. He spoke with pride about his daughter’s journey from a teenager interested in marine biology to sailor aboard one of the world’s most lethal ships. But he also has wrestled with whether the US should be at war in the first place.

“Is it really something we should fight and send our children to?” Osias said he asks himself. “In the end, as a parent, my duty is to protect my daughter.”

The travails of the Ford, which has about 4,500 sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft, are raising broader questions about how the strain on Navy assets over the last year positions the military service for a future that could include war with China in the Pacific.

The issues with the toilets and the laundry fire are specific to the Ford, but carriers on long deployments often face increasing gremlins as components wear out and repairs at sea serve as temporary band aids. Arresting cables that catch landing aircraft begin to fray and saltwater seeps into shipboard systems, among other minor issues that begin to compound.

Sailors move a safety line while being lowered in a rigid-hull inflatable boat, in the Caribbean Sea, on February 1.

Seaman Alyssa Joy/USS Gerald R. Ford/US Navy

Sailors fight a simulated fire in the USS Gerald R. Ford’s jet shop during a general quarters drill, on November 6, 2025.

Seaman Spencer Staggs/USS Gerald R. Ford/US Navy

Those factors, paired with flying a high-volume of sorties like those launched from the Ford, increase the chances of a potential mishap, sources familiar with internal Navy discussions said.

The $13 billion ship is the newest and most technologically advanced of the 11 US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and has become a symbol of the strength, and limits, of US naval power.

“If we didn’t have the Ford, we would be struggling to maintain an operational presence, but we’d also be struggling to keep our aircraft carriers ahead of our enemies,” said Brent Sadler, a 26-year veteran of the Navy and former submarine officer.

The Navy referred questions about the Ford’s role in the Iran and Venezuela operations to US Central and Southern Command, the military commands that, respectively, have overseen those operations. The commands declined to provide any specifics. CNN has sent questions to the Ford’s public affairs office on any wear and tear the ship has experienced and the morale of sailors on board.

CNN also contacted the “ombudsman” for the Ford, which connects the ship’s command with sailors’ family members. The ombudsman referred questions to the Ford’s public affairs office.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, departs from Souda Naval Base near Chania on the island of Crete, Greece, on February 26.

Giannis Angelakis/AP

‘It stresses the families’

Current and former military officials say the Ford has been indispensable in the Iran and Venezuela operations.

The ship’s electronic catapult system allows it to launch anything from small drones to big aircraft, giving commanders an array of firepower options, Sadler said. The other 10 US aircraft carriers don’t have that capability.

But the US military’s reliance on the Ford, and its sailors, has also been on full display during the Iran war.

While parked near Venezuela, aircrew from the Ford flew a relatively low number of sorties — most of which took place during a short window once Trump approved the operation to capture Maduro. After moving to the Middle East, those pilots flew more missions as US forces moved from using primarily stand-off weapons to bombs dropped by aircraft flying in Iranian airspace.

Even before Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday, the Ford’s leadership informed sailors that it expected to return to the US in May, according to a source with the matter. Although the end is in sight for the crew, extended deployments tend to leave lingering effects.

Sailors prepare cargo for transport on the flight deck, during a vertical replenishment while underway in the Caribbean Sea, on December 14, 2025.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Alyssa Sperle/USS Gerald R. Ford/US Navy

A sailor signals the launch of an F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft on the flight deck of USS Gerald R. Ford, during Operation Epic Fury, on March 16.

US Navy/US Central Command Public Affairs

“Navy analysis shows that once a ship crosses six months on a given deployment,” issues with retention and morale “accelerate,” according to retired Adm. James Stavridis, former supreme allied commander at NATO. He said he would “expect challenges for the crew” of the Ford, given the length of the deployment.

The record deployment can challenge sailors, but the Ford does have a unique crew member onboard whose mission is to help relieve stress.

A female Labrador retriever named Sage has served as a therapy dog on the Ford since 2023, initially as part of a trial of the concept for the Navy. Sage, who holds the rank of captain, is “trained to alert to anxiety, reduce stress, and interrupt detrimental behaviors,” said Tara Fisher, a spokesperson for Mutts with a Mission, a nonprofit that connects specially trained dogs like Sage with military and law enforcement personnel.

Aboard the Ford, Sage is “enhancing the resiliency of her shipmates, lowering stress, breaking down barriers and reducing the stigma around mental health,” Fisher said. Sage has “extensive training” in navigating the vast ship and has her own medical kit and safety equipment, according to Fisher. One of Sage’s goals is to be “a catalyst for conversations, encouraging sailors and Marines to seek professional support,” Fisher said. Those skills are in high demand as the Ford remains at sea and recovers from an intense few months of combat.

Sailors pet Sage, a dog assigned to the USS Gerald R. Ford through Mutts with a Mission, on August 4, 2025.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Alexander Casco/USS Gerald R. Ford/US Navy

The Navy as a whole is facing issues with sailor burnout, according to multiple sources familiar with internal Navy discussions about the issue. Navy aviation personnel, from pilots to maintainers, are leaving the service at a high rate, according to those sources.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a review of attrition rates among Navy Strike Fighter Squadrons, according to a March memo from Hegseth obtained by CNN. To retain top talent, the Navy is also offering flight officers and naval aviators tens of thousands of dollars annually in bonuses.

“We’re at a point right now where retention’s not great,” said retired Vice Adm. Andrew “Woody” Lewis, former commander of the Navy’s Second Fleet, citing the evergreen challenge of uncertainty over deployments for Navy personnel and the length of time it takes for Navy pilots to get certified to fly. “It eats into your mentality when there’s a lot of uncertainty, things take longer than they should. You get a lot of administrative burden coming down on you,” Lewis said. “It stresses the families, stresses the individuals.”

Lewis and other former senior Navy officials said the Ford’s crew would relish the challenge of being at sea that long and the Ford’s command would be closely attuned to burnout issues and stresses on the families.

“It’s a curse and a blessing at the same time, being on an aircraft carrier,” said Lewis, who did 11 aircraft carrier deployments of six months or more. The blessing: Aircraft carriers are used for a lot of “very strategically important missions,” Lewis said. “And it’s a curse at the same time because you got to go, you get extended, you get these long periods of you don’t know what the hell is going on.”

A sailor transits the flight deck of the USS Gerald R. Ford, while underway in the Caribbean Sea, on December 18, 2025.

Seaman Apprentice Nathan Sears/USS Gerald R. Ford/US Navy

CNN’s Arpita Dasika contributed to this report.

Carney casts himself as NATO defender amid Trump beef, despite Canada missing key benchmark for decades

Ottawa averaged roughly 1.3% of GDP in NATO defense spending over the past decade, far below the U.S. average of 3.3%

April 12, 2026 7:00am EDT / Fox News

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his country’s NATO commitments after being pressed over alliance spending by President Donald Trump, insisting Ottawa meets the benchmark – even though Canada only reached the 2% defense target in 2025.

Speaking recently at a press conference in Monteregie, Quebec, Carney said Iran remains a “grave threat” to the Middle East and beyond and argued Canada is meeting its obligations to the alliance.

But Canada only reached NATO’s 2% defense spending benchmark in 2025, after spending years well below the target. Carney acknowledged Ottawa had not hit that mark since the Cold War, underscoring the vulnerability in his pushback to Trump.

“I’ll underscore that just a few weeks ago that we’ve met for the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall our NATO commitments in terms of 2% defense spending,” Carney added.

ECONOMIST EDITOR SAYS EUROPEAN LEADERS NOW FEAR A TRUE NATO ‘DIVORCE’ AFTER TRUMP PULLOUT THREAT

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6374365560112

Trump has blasted some NATO allies over what he sees as weak support during the Iran conflict, warning on Truth Social that the alliance “wasn’t there when we needed them and they won’t be there if we need them again.”

When a reporter pressed that Trump threatened to punish NATO, including conflict-averse members Germany and Spain, Carney boasted that Canada “meet[s] its NATO commitments.”

NATO’s 2014-2025 defense expenditure report estimated Canada’s defense spending at 1.01% of GDP in 2014, and below 1.5% through 2024 before reaching 2.01% in 2025.

NATO CHIEF SAYS WORLD IS ‘ABSOLUTELY’ SAFER UNDER TRUMP

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has praised Trump for pushing allies to meet the 2% benchmark, as several Eastern Bloc nations have noticeably increased their tithes.

Over the past decade, U.S. defense spending has averaged roughly 3.3% of GDP, compared with about 1.3% for Canada. The U.S. GDP is also a higher gross figure than all other NATO members in dollars.

MORE KEY US ALLIES BLOCK MILITARY FLIGHTS AS IRAN WAR RIFT WIDENS WITH TRUMP

Tensions between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump flared after the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.(Renaud Philippe/Bloomberg; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Greece and the U.K. have been the top two countries consistently contributing to NATO’s funding, while Canada, Spain, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Hungary all sit in the lower tier on average. The only outlier below them is Luxembourg, which contributes an average 0.6% of GDP to NATO, according to calculations made from the report’s figures.

TRUMP LASHES OUT AT ‘SICK’ IRANIAN LEADERS, CONFIRMS ESTIMATED TIMELINE FOR ENDING WAR

Rutte previously made waves for appearing to refer to Trump as “daddy,” but said this week the Dutch-to-English translation was flawed and that he meant to refer to the president as a strong disciplinarian-like figure at a time when Trump was angry at both Israel and Iran.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6375173130112

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“In Dutch, you would say the translation of your father is ‘daddy’ and I would say hey, yeah, some time, Daddy has to be angry, so I wasn’t going to say [he’s my] daddy,” he said of a meeting between the two men in The Hague last June.

Rutte issued the response after being pressed on whether he still viewed Trump as “Daddy” or an ally amid the president’s issues with some member-nations.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

民调指部分以色列人反对停火 内坦亚胡：对伊战斗尚未结束

2026年4月12日 18:50 / 联合早报

以色列总理内坦亚胡3月在耶路撒冷出席新闻发布会。 （路透社）

面对国内舆论质疑对伊战争未能实现战略目标，以色列总理内坦亚胡星期六为安抚民众称，“战斗尚未结束”。尽管美伊马拉松谈判未取得突破，但内坦亚胡坚称，以色列已在战事中取得了“历史性成就”。

《纽约时报》报道，内坦亚胡星期六（4月11日）在13分钟的演说中，避谈正在进行的停火谈判，转而强调以军与美军在过去一个多月空袭中取得的战果。他向国民保证：“这场战斗尚未结束。我们取得了历史性变革，摧毁了核计划、摧毁了导弹，也重创了（德黑兰）政权。”

内坦亚胡的强硬表态旨在平息国内日益高涨的不满情绪。此前，美国总统特朗普单方面宣布为期两周的停火，引发许多以色列人的反感，认为这是美国违背以色列意愿强加的决定。

民调显示，许多以色列人认为战争尚未达成核心目标，即彻底铲除伊朗的核设施与弹道导弹计划。内坦亚胡的反对者抨击称，尽管他公开呼吁推翻伊朗政权，但现有的战果远未达到“战略决定性胜利”。

内坦亚胡在演说中列出一份据称在空袭中丧生的伊朗高层名单，其中包括伊朗最高领袖哈梅内伊。他指着中东地图称，过去两年半来，以色列已重创了哈马斯与黎巴嫩真主党等伊朗代理人武装。他特别强调，针对黎巴嫩的军事打击仍在继续，且不受现行停火协议约束。

美情报部门：伊朗核心能力尚存

尽管内坦亚胡声称“摧毁了核计划与导弹”，但美国情报机构对此持保留态度。情报报告显示，伊朗正迅速挖掘被炸毁的地下导弹库，显示其导弹能力未被严重削弱。

一些以色列前安全官员也表示，虽然战术成就斐然，但伊朗统治系统依然稳固，且仍保留大量浓缩铀库存，具备未来制造核武的潜力。

随着美国副总统万斯周日空手离开伊斯兰堡，以色列内阁中的右翼成员，如利库德集团部长佐哈尔则试图寻找积极信号。他在社媒上称，美国坚持阻止伊朗获取核武，证明美以两国在停火条件上依然保持“高度协调”。

民调指部分以色列人反对停火 内坦亚胡：对伊战斗尚未结束

2026年4月12日 18:50 / 联合早报

以色列总理内坦亚胡3月在耶路撒冷出席新闻发布会。 （路透社）

面对国内舆论质疑对伊战争未能实现战略目标，以色列总理内坦亚胡星期六为安抚民众称，“战斗尚未结束”。尽管美伊马拉松谈判未取得突破，但内坦亚胡坚称，以色列已在战事中取得了“历史性成就”。

《纽约时报》报道，内坦亚胡星期六（4月11日）在13分钟的演说中，避谈正在进行的停火谈判，转而强调以军与美军在过去一个多月空袭中取得的战果。他向国民保证：“这场战斗尚未结束。我们取得了历史性变革，摧毁了核计划、摧毁了导弹，也重创了（德黑兰）政权。”

内坦亚胡的强硬表态旨在平息国内日益高涨的不满情绪。此前，美国总统特朗普单方面宣布为期两周的停火，引发许多以色列人的反感，认为这是美国违背以色列意愿强加的决定。

民调显示，许多以色列人认为战争尚未达成核心目标，即彻底铲除伊朗的核设施与弹道导弹计划。内坦亚胡的反对者抨击称，尽管他公开呼吁推翻伊朗政权，但现有的战果远未达到“战略决定性胜利”。

内坦亚胡在演说中列出一份据称在空袭中丧生的伊朗高层名单，其中包括伊朗最高领袖哈梅内伊。他指着中东地图称，过去两年半来，以色列已重创了哈马斯与黎巴嫩真主党等伊朗代理人武装。他特别强调，针对黎巴嫩的军事打击仍在继续，且不受现行停火协议约束。

美情报部门：伊朗核心能力尚存

尽管内坦亚胡声称“摧毁了核计划与导弹”，但美国情报机构对此持保留态度。情报报告显示，伊朗正迅速挖掘被炸毁的地下导弹库，显示其导弹能力未被严重削弱。

一些以色列前安全官员也表示，虽然战术成就斐然，但伊朗统治系统依然稳固，且仍保留大量浓缩铀库存，具备未来制造核武的潜力。

随着美国副总统万斯周日空手离开伊斯兰堡，以色列内阁中的右翼成员，如利库德集团部长佐哈尔则试图寻找积极信号。他在社媒上称，美国坚持阻止伊朗获取核武，证明美以两国在停火条件上依然保持“高度协调”。

The most important Democratic health care debate is raging again

2026-04-12T10:00:55.782Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/12/politics/medicare-for-all-health-care-cost-elections-analysis

Single payer is getting a second wind.

Replacing private health insurance with a universal coverage system funded and run solely by the federal government has long been a priority for the Democratic Party’s left wing. But the push for a single-payer plan, also known as Medicare for All, appeared to be on life support among Democrats after its leading advocates, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, struggled to defend the idea during the party’s 2020 presidential primaries. Under President Joe Biden, a single-payer skeptic, Democrats focused instead on substantially expanding health coverage through the Affordable Care Act.

Now, though, a new generation of Democratic House, Senate and even gubernatorial candidates are resuscitating the single-payer idea. “I do think that there is a resurgence in interest in single payer,” says Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, the organizing group founded by Sanders. “We’re in a moment where people are starting to feel the affordability crisis when it comes to health care in a very real way.”

Like Geevarghese, most Democratic operatives believe the idea’s revival reflects growing frustration over rising health care costs at a moment when voters are especially stressed about their overall cost of living. The paradox for single-payer advocates is that while higher health care costs make the idea more attractive in theory, they also make it more daunting in practice.

One principal reason the idea lost momentum in the 2020 Democratic presidential race was that its supporters could not convincingly explain how they would fund a complete government takeover of the health care system. Because of the nation’s rising health care spending, the 10-year bill for a federal single-payer plan would be nearly twice as high now as it was in 2020, according to a broad projection of possible costs shared exclusively with CNN by John Holahan, a fellow at the Urban Institute, a center-left think tank.

Single payer is receiving renewed attention among Democrats because “costs have risen and there are no obvious solutions on the horizon to deal with that,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a think tank that focuses on health issues. “But the political liabilities of Medicare for All, like having the government exercise more control over health care and needing a big tax increase to pay for it, are all still there.”

Proposals to replace the existing health care system with a single-payer government-run system have sprouted in Democratic primaries this year. In Illinois, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who decisively won the Democratic Senate primary last month, forcefully touted the idea and attacked her opponents for taking contributions from health industry interests. In Maine, progressive first-time candidate Graham Platner has stressed his support for a single-payer system while opening a consistent lead in polls for the Democratic Senate nomination over Gov. Janet Mills.

The idea has resurfaced in a broad array of House races. Analilia Mejia, the community organizer who won a February primary for the Democratic nomination to succeed recently elected New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill in Congress, is a strong single-payer advocate. And in a closely watched Illinois Democratic House primary, not just the candidates identified most with the party’s left flank but also Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, the eventual winner, backed Medicare for All.

Similarly, in a closely contested New York City primary, Rep. Dan Goldman and both of his challengers have endorsed the idea. So has Bob Brooks, the former firefighter and president of the state firefighter union who is running against Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie for a northeast Pennsylvania seat. “You shouldn’t have to run into a burning building to get healthcare from your government or wait until you turn 65,” Brooks writes on his campaign website.

In California, younger primary challengers to Democratic Reps. Mike Thompson, Brad Sherman and Doris Matsui have all embraced single payer — as have Thompson and Sherman. Tom Steyer and Katie Porter, the two candidates competing most for support from the left in the state’s gubernatorial primary, each say they will pursue a state-level single-payer system.

Except for Brooks and Platner, all the candidates listed above are running in strongly Democratic states or districts. Generally, Democratic candidates in swing areas remain much more cautious about embracing single payer.

But the revival of single payer hasn’t been confined solely to deep blue places. Former Rep. Jasmine Crockett pushed it in the Texas Senate primary ultimately won by State Rep. James Talarico in March. The issue is also a major point of division in the Democratic primary to oppose Republican Rep. David Valadao, whose Central Valley district remains a toss-up even after California Democrats redrew the state’s Congressional maps. Randy Villegas, who is running as a populist insurgent, is a full-throated single-payer supporter, while state Assembly member Jasmeet Bains, a physician whom Democratic leaders prefer, talks instead about strengthening existing programs.

The primary for the Democratic Senate nomination in Michigan is probably the race where the single-payer debate has featured most prominently. Physician Abdul El-Sayed, a former director of the Detroit Health Department, has long been an unwavering single-payer advocate. But in the past few months, as one local reporter put it, “he has started adding an asterisk, saying that people should be able to obtain additional coverage from their union or employer.”

That position brings El-Sayed closer to his two rivals for the nomination, Rep. Haley Stevens, the most centrist candidate, and State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who ideologically falls in between the other two. Neither Stevens nor McMorrow supports Medicare for All. Instead, each has argued for creating a “public option” to compete against private insurance companies by allowing Americans of all ages to buy into Medicare. Stevens believes a public option in the ACA is necessary “so that the insurance companies that are acting as a near-monopoly have competition,” says Arik Wolk, her campaign communications director.

That approach has become the preferred alternative for many Democrats resisting single payer. In Texas, Talarico promoted such a plan — what he called “Medicare for Y’all” — in his victory over Crockett. Several House candidates in competitive seats, such as Christina Bohannan in Iowa, have endorsed a public option, too.

This split between supporters of single-payer and a public option reprises the arguments from the 2020 Democratic presidential race. Both Biden and Pete Buttigieg, then the principal critics of single payer, said that instead they would create a public option — what Buttigieg memorably called “Medicare for all who want it.”

The revival of interest in single payer from so many Democratic candidates this year virtually guarantees the party will face another version of that 2020 debate in its 2028 presidential primaries. “Just based on what we are seeing in the midterms,” says Geevarghese of Our Revolution, “there’s no doubt in my mind there will be a fight over single payer in ‘28.”

The single-payer idea surged into the 2020 Democratic presidential race on a wave of momentum. After Sanders’ unexpectedly strong performance against Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016, many Democrats concluded that his expansive progressivism was ascendant in the party. Four Democratic senators who sought the 2020 nomination ultimately endorsed his single-payer legislation: Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand.

But single payer proved surprisingly vulnerable to counterattacks. Biden and Buttigieg led the charge against it, focusing their fire mostly against Warren, who looked strong in early polls. Once the single-payer advocates “were forced to defend their plan and explain how they were going to pay for it and how it would actually work,” the idea turned out “to have a glass jaw,” says Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at Third Way, a centrist Democratic organization. Harris memorably retreated from the idea.

And while Sanders openly embraced massive tax increases, Warren struggled to explain how she would pay for her plan. The critics, led by Biden and Buttigieg, also questioned shifting so much authority to control Americans’ health care to the federal government and forcing people who liked their employer-provided insurance to surrender it for the government alternative. After his early struggles,Biden’s pushback on single payer “was seen as an inflection point by our campaign,” said Andrew Bates, a top communications aide to Biden during the campaign and in the White House.

Though Biden during the primaries embraced the public option as his alternative to single payer, the idea never got off the ground once he took office. Instead, congressional Democrats approved a major funding increase to expand coverage under the ACA. That effort succeeded in increasing the share of Americans with health insurance to a record 92% by 2024.

But costs continued to rise. Federal statistics showed that total national spending on health care by governments, businesses and individuals soared from $4.2 trillion in 2020 to $5.3 trillion in 2024. Even more pressingly, the average premium for employer-provided insurance rose a cumulative 26% from 2020 through 2025, according to KFF. That was even larger than the 21% increase from 2015 to 2020 that boosted single payer in the 2020 race.

For 2026, most Democratic candidates begin their health care messaging with criticizing last year’s double-barreled assault from Trump and congressional Republicans on the ACA — the massive Medicaid cuts approved in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the choice to let the enhanced ACA subsidies expire last December. But across the party’s ideological spectrum, many Democrats argue that simply reversing Trump’s cuts is an insufficient health care agenda for 2026, much less 2028. “Yes, we should try to restore the health care tax credits and we should try to make Medicaid whole, but we should also try to go further,” Bates said.

What “further” means, though, remains a matter of intense dispute. Last week, the Center for American Progress, a leading liberal think tank, released a “Patients’ Bill of Rights” to try to immediately reduce health care costs through new regulatory restraints on insurers and hospitals. “The public is hungry for polices that will lower their costs now and the debate about health care system change — whether it’s single payer or a public option – are going to take a decade or so to happen,” said Neera Tanden, the CAP president and CEO and former chief domestic policy adviser for Biden.

Many Democratic candidates, though, want deeper changes in the system. Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster who has extensively studied health care attitudes, said rising health care costs have made single payer more politically viable than in 2020. “There is a lot of anger about what many voters see as a badly broken health insurance system, more than when Medicare for All was last litigated in 2019 and 2020,” Garin said. “And for that reason, voters are more open to the idea of moving to a single-payer system, including some blue-collar Trump voters.”

But, Garin added, “the cost and tax implications” remain a big hurdle for single-payer proposals, “especially for voters who are used to having an employer pay for most of their insurance costs.”

Single-payer proposals very quickly run into sticker shock. Before the 2020 race, the Urban Institute forecast that Sanders’ plan would cost $34 trillion in federal spending over 10 years, an amount that at the time exceeded the projected 10-year spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid combined. Today the figure would be even more daunting. Holahan told me that as a first cut, he projects a single-payer plan could cost nearly twice as much over the first decade as the Urban Institute estimated before 2020, including the impact of inflation.

Not all of that would be new costs, since the federal government already spends about $1.7 trillion annually on health care. And as Holahan pointed out, the economy is also larger now than it was in 2020, which would provide a broader tax base to support such a proposal. But a single-payer plan would require the federal government to assume responsibility for the two-thirds of national health care costs now covered by households, private businesses and state and local governments — a formidable responsibility that would require massive new sources of revenue.

For comparison, Holahan’s projected 10-year cost for single payer roughly equals the total amount of revenue the Congressional Budget Office forecasts the federal government currently will raise from the income and payroll tax combined over that same period.

These eye-popping prospective costs present an irresistible target for Republicans. Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that while single-payer health care may be attractive in Democratic primaries, in competitive general elections it will be as vulnerable as other vanguard liberal policies have proven, including abolishing ICE and defunding the police. “You see all these candidates pushing each other further and further to the left … and they are going to have to answer for it in the general election,” he said.

One other obstacle for single-payer advocates is that the wrecking-ball tenure of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seems certain to compound fears of providing the federal government so much control over the health care system, including which procedures insurance will cover. “Trust in government health agencies is at its lowest level ever, so I think that would give people some pause at turning over the health insurance system to (them),” said Levitt of KFF.

Single payer has a solid core of Democratic support — 17 Democratic senators have endorsed Sanders’ single-payer health bill, as have more than half of House Democrats — and that is likely to grow in November. Under any realistic scenario, though, the advocates will remain well short of majority support in either the House or Senate, even if Democrats win back both chambers this year or in 2028.

For now, the most tangible impact of single payer’s revival will be to increase pressure on Democrats to pursue a health care agenda that extends well beyond reversing Trump’s cuts to the ACA — even if that increases the party’s vulnerability to Republican counterattacks.

https://www.facebook.com/JulianaForIL/videos/in-our-broken-healthcare-system-everyone-benefits-but-us-my-opponents-raja-krish/1287492229783859/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdcX7FCVyBs

At a mahjong table in Iowa, a struggle over which party to trust

April 12, 2026 / The Washington Post

Women courted in key races weigh their choices — and whether the president’s policies have delivered for a working-class town hit by tariffs, war and rising costs.

By Emily Davies

Ottumwa, Iowa, is one of many working-class towns in the state that twice helped deliver Donald Trump to the White House. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

OTTUMWA, Iowa — The candidates would arrive soon enough, armed with scripts and backed by millions of dollars targeting voters just like the women gathered here at the American Legion for mahjong. Tonight was about the game.

克里姆林宫说，在优先保障替代市场需求的前提下，俄罗斯愿意向欧盟供应剩余的天然气。 （路透社）

俄罗斯表示若有盈余，愿向欧盟供应天然气

俄罗斯国家通讯社塔斯社报道，克里姆林宫发言人佩斯科夫星期天（4月12日）宣布，俄罗斯“如果向替代市场供应后仍有剩余量”，就准备好继续向欧盟供应天然气。

但佩斯科夫也说，即使俄罗斯不供应天然气，欧洲也会找到购买途径。

克里姆林宫说，在优先保障替代市场需求的前提下，俄罗斯愿意向欧盟供应剩余的天然气。 （路透社）

俄罗斯表示若有盈余，愿向欧盟供应天然气

俄罗斯国家通讯社塔斯社报道，克里姆林宫发言人佩斯科夫星期天（4月12日）宣布，俄罗斯“如果向替代市场供应后仍有剩余量”，就准备好继续向欧盟供应天然气。

但佩斯科夫也说，即使俄罗斯不供应天然气，欧洲也会找到购买途径。

印度尼西亚总统普拉博沃（图）将于星期天（4月12日）启程前往俄罗斯，与俄罗斯总统普京就石油问题举行会谈。 （法新社）

印度尼西亚总统普拉博沃将于星期天启程前往俄罗斯，与俄罗斯总统普京就石油问题举行会谈。

法新社报道，印尼总统府星期天（4月12日）证实，普拉博沃当天傍晚将启程前往俄罗斯。

印尼外长苏吉奥诺星期六（11日）说，石油作为“对印尼具有战略重要性的资源”，将列入会谈议程。

他说：“他（普拉博沃）将与普京总统会晤，并讨论全球地缘政治以及能源局势。”

近期曾出访韩国和日本的普拉博沃，为自己的频密出访进行辩护。他上周向内阁发表讲话时说：“兄弟姐妹们，为了确保石油供应，我必须四处奔走。”

与许多国家一样，受中东战争影响，全球油价飙升给印尼带来了压力。俄罗斯驻印尼大使托尔切诺夫上个月称，俄方愿意向印尼出售石油。

印尼政府上个月宣布实施燃油配给，并要求公务员每周至少一天在家办公，以节约能源储备。政府也承诺近期不会调高燃油价格。

菲律宾前总统杜特尔特之子任民主人民力量党总裁

2026年4月12日 15:33 / 联合早报

2025年2月，杜特尔特在马尼拉圣胡安市举行的民主人民力量党竞选集会上发表讲话。 （路透社）

菲律宾前总统杜特尔特之子、现任达沃市市长塞巴斯蒂安已正式接任菲律宾民主人民力量党总裁。

据菲律宾媒体星期天（4月12日）报道，塞巴斯蒂安在星期六（11日）召开的菲律宾民主人民力量党全国委员会会议上获得正式任命，并在当天宣誓就职。他自2025年6月起一直担任代理总裁的职务。

现年38岁的塞巴斯蒂安（Sebastian Duterte）是杜特尔特的小儿子。菲律宾民主人民力量党是菲律宾重要的政党之一。根据其行政组织架构，党主席为最高核心领导岗位，目前仍由杜特尔特担任。作为第二号人物的党总裁负责政党日常运作工作。

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