Michael Hiltzik: Finally, a universal healthcare proposal that would work for everyone

Up to now, single-payer and universal health coverage proposals in the U.S. have foundered on one shoal or another: They're ungodly expensive; they replace plans that people like; they're too sudden; they're not sudden enough; they're politically impossible, etc., etc., etc.

But now take a look at "Medicare Extra for All." It's a universal coverage proposal released last week by the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank associated with the Democratic Party.

It's not quite "Medicare for All," to cite the mantra used by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and others who want a near-instantaneous, wholesale transformation of the U.S. health coverage system into a public service. Instead, it would preserve privately financed employer coverage