6 Takeaways From the Biden-Sanders Joint Task Force Proposals

Instead, the task force supports a government-run insurance option that would be offered to all Americans on a sliding scale according to income — and automatically provided to low-income Americans free.

A so-called public option has always been a part of Mr. Biden’s health plan, but the recommendations specify new details, such as a requirement that primary care visits and certain prescription medicines be offered without any out-of-pocket spending by patients. Similar to Mr. Biden’s most recent health proposal, this would allow Americans to become eligible for Medicare coverage at 60 instead of the current threshold, 65. Medicare benefits would be expanded to cover treatment for dental care, vision and hearing loss.

The task force also recommends special insurance options for people during the coronavirus pandemic. For those who lost coverage because they became unemployed, the task force suggests that the federal government pay the full cost of continuing that coverage under the federal law known as the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA. People without previous coverage would be allowed to buy a new plan with no deductible, at a price determined by their income, or an existing Obamacare plan.

Criminal justice: A shift for Biden on private prisons, but not on marijuana

Mr. Biden’s views on criminal justice had already been drastically transformed since he helped pass the 1994 crime bill, and the task force’s recommendations go still further. Most notably, they call for eliminating private prisons — a move that Mr. Sanders has championed but that Mr. Biden had not endorsed.

They do not, however, bridge another notable gap between the Biden and Sanders platforms. The task force called for decriminalizing marijuana and legalizing it at the federal level for medical use, but for letting the states decide whether to legalize it for recreational use. That is the position Mr. Biden held in the primary, in contrast to Mr. Sanders, who supports full legalization.