Sanders says single-payer health care can happen in his first term if ‘people demand it’

February 11, 2016 at 10:12 a.m. EST

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders waves to reporters and supporters after a meeting with the Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia's Restaurant in New York on Feb. 10. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

NEW YORK -- Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said that he has no hard timetable for moving to a single-payer health-care system if he wins the White House but that he hopes it’s something he could accomplish in his first term.

The senator’s proposal of a “Medicare for all” model has become a flash point in the Democratic contest, with rival Hillary Clinton arguing that Sanders’s vision is impractical, given how difficult it was to pass President Obama’s less ambitious Affordable Care Act. It is certain to be a topic in Thursday night's Democratic debate in Milwaukee.