Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) is unveiling legislation Wednesday that would create a single-payer health insurance program to cover every person in the country.

The legislation, the Medicare for All Act of 2019, is a souped-up version of bills that garnered majority support from the House Democratic Caucus and one-third of the Senate Democratic Caucus in the last Congress .

Even though Democrats hold 40 more seats in the House and majority control, the new Medicare for all bill has 18 fewer sponsors than its legislative predecessor, H.R. 676, did in the previous Congress.

Over two dozen incumbent Democrats who signed on to H.R. 676 have declined to do so this time around. Their backtracking raises the prospect that the closer single-payer comes to reality, the more squeamish it makes some Democrats .

Lets stop nibbling around the edges. This is a crisis of enormous magnitude. And our response has to be proportional to that crisis, Jayapal said in a call with reporters on Tuesday afternoon. People are dying. They cant afford their drugs.

There are some things that should not be provided through the for-profit marketplace, and we believe health care is one, she added.

Asked about the drop-off in support from H.R. 676 the latest version of which then-Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) introduced in January 2017 Jayapal observed that Conyers began with fewer than half as many co-sponsors as her bill now has.

She also noted the extent of support among freshman Democrats who flipped Republican seats in difficult races. At least 16 first-year Democrats have signed on to the bill including Reps. Katie Hill (Calif.), Katie Porter (Calif.), Josh Harder (Calif.), Susan Wild (Pa.) and Jared Golden (Maine), who won previously GOP-held seats.