Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) says its time for Democrats to run on single-payer health care across the country.

President Barack Obama tried to move us forward with health care coverage by using a conservative model that came from one of the conservative think tanks that had been advanced by a Republican governor in Massachusetts, Warren, referring to Mitt Romney, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journalpublished Tuesday.

Now its time for the next step. And the next step is single payer, she said.

Warrens comments represent a shift to her position on the U.S. health care system.In March, she said her support for switching to single-payer in which the government handles coverage of health care costs, rather than insurance companies would depend on whether Democrats could find Republican lawmakers willing to help fix the Affordable Care Act passed under Obama.

Republicans, however, have focused on trying to repeal and replace Obamacare. And neither a bill the House passed nor one the Senate is considering both of which would cause more than 20 million people to lose health insurance, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates has any support among Democrats.

Last week, a high-profile effort to establish a single-payer health care system in California stalled amid concerns from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the state over how to pay for the estimated $330 billion to $400 billion measure. California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D) called the measure woefully inadequate.

National Democrats have been reluctant to call for putting single-payer at the top of their party platform. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who supports single-payer, rejected the idea earlier this year, saying the issue should be left up to the states because Congress is not ready for it yet.

Republicans say single-payer is unpopular and turns off voters. Matt Gorman, communications director at the National Republican Campaign Committee, goaded Democrats to heed Warrens call for such a system.

The White House is also using the specter of single-payer to persuade Senate Republicans to vote for their partys health care bill.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted that plans by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to introduce a bill that would create a single-payer system lays out the choice for GOP senators wary of the bill their leaders unveiled last week.

In her Journal interview, Warren called on Democrats to ditch half-measures and commit to progressive policies that they believe in.

Its not like were trying to sell stuff that people dont want. Its not that at all, she said. Its that we havent gotten up there and been as clear about our values as we should be, or as clear and concrete about how were going to get there.

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Elizabeth Warren Calls For Democrats To Embrace Single-Payer Health Care - HuffPost