• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, February 6, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home National

Do Most Americans Support a Medicare For All Healthcare System?

Bryan Bowman by Bryan Bowman
12/04/18
in National
Marchers for affordable healthcare in the US

Activists protest during the "March for Health" demanding equitable and affordable access to quality healthcare, in April 2017, in New York. Photo: Kena Betancur, AFP

18
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

An analysis of American attitudes on healthcare released by Gallup on Monday concluded that a majority of Americans “reject a government-run healthcare system.”

The report stands in contrast with other recent public opinion polls that have shown consistently high levels of support among Americans for the creation of a national single-payer, “Medicare for all” healthcare system.

The variation in support between polls seems to depend on how the issue is framed, suggesting many Americans may be confused about exactly what a Medicare for all system entails.

What is Medicare For All?

Medicare for all is a proposal to guarantee healthcare to all Americans by expanding the current Medicare system to include all Americans. Created in 1966, Medicare is a taxpayer-funded federal program that provides healthcare coverage to elderly and disabled Americans.

After running on the issue during the 2016 presidential election, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced detailed legislation to create a Medicare for all program in September 2017.

Today, our illustrious president said that Medicare for all "can't be afforded." Mr. President, it's your disastrous efforts to take health care away from millions of Americans that can't be afforded. pic.twitter.com/caCdq13ynH

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 20, 2018

Under Sanders’ proposal, individuals and businesses would fund the expansion of Medicare by paying taxes in lieu of premiums to for-profit insurance companies.

The proposal has surged in popularity since Sanders’ made it a focus of his presidential campaign. In the 2018 midterm elections, more than half of the Democratic Congressional nominees ran on Medicare for all and 16 Senators and 123 members of the House have co-sponsored the legislation.

‘Government-Run Healthcare’

The Gallup report released this week found that just 40 percent of Americans – 65 percent of Democrats and 13 percent of Republicans – “prefer a government-run healthcare system.”

The framing by Gallup, however, is vague and doesn’t necessarily reflect Americans’ views on Medicare for all specifically.

Under Sanders’ Medicare for all plan, the government would supply health insurance to all Americans but would not run hospitals and clinics, which would remain privately owned and operated.

This is a critical distinction between the United Kingdom’s National Health Service and Sanders’ proposal, which is more similar to the Canadian healthcare system. 

Medicare Expansion

Other recent public opinion polls that asked about Medicare for all more specifically found far greater support for the proposal.

In October, a Harris poll found that an overwhelming 70 percent of Americans – including a majority of Republicans – supported “providing Medicare to every American.”

About 86 percent of Democrats, 68 percent of independents and 52 percent of Republicans said that they either “strongly” or “somewhat” supported doing so.

The results were very similar to a Reuters poll released in August that also found that 70 percent of Americans and 52 percent of Republicans supported Medicare for all.

That poll asked respondents, “When it comes to the U.S. healthcare system, would you support or oppose a policy of Medicare for all?”

The Full Picture

Neither poll provided a description of what Medicare for all is or any details about the proposal.

When a Kaiser Family Foundation poll did so in March, it found lower levels of support but still showed that a majority of Americans supported the proposal.

The Kaiser Family poll asked respondents, “Do you favor or oppose having a national health plan, or Medicare-for-all, in which all Americans would get their insurance from a single government plan?”

About 59 percent said they were in favor, including 36 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of independents.

“Medicare is a very popular program, so the idea of expanding it to everyone is popular as well,” Larry Levitt, senior vice president for health reform at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told CNBC.

“The advantage of Medicare for all, which is much closer to how the rest of the world provides healthcare to their residents, is that you can achieve universal coverage at a lower cost.”

‘State of Crisis’

While there may be some ambiguity about just how many Americans support a single payer system, it’s clear that Americans are not happy with their current healthcare system.

In a 2017 poll, Gallup found that 71 percent of Americans think the healthcare system is “in a state of crisis” or has “major problems.”

The polling group also found last week that a majority of Americans are no longer satisfied with the Affordable Care Act – an Obama-era bill that sought to maintain the for-profit health insurance industry but expand access through a public option.

‘Zero’ Doubt Saudi Crown Prince Directed Khashoggi Murder: GOP Senators

Share18Tweet
Bryan Bowman

Bryan Bowman

Email Bryan at bryan.bowman@theglobepost.com or follow him on Twitter @TGPBryanBowman

Related Posts

Health Care Protest
Opinion

Democrats Should Run – and Run Hard – on Health Care

by Colin Provost
April 1, 2020
Democratic presidential hopeful Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters at a campaign rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 3, 2019
Opinion

What Progressives Can Learn from Bernie Sanders’ Campaign

by Peter Bloom
March 27, 2020
US voters at a polling station
National

Democratic Primary Proceeds in 3 States Despite Virus Pandemic

by Staff Writer
March 17, 2020
US Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at "The People's Summit" in Chicago, June 10, 2017.
National

Sanders Says Still in White House Fight, Will Pressure Biden on Key Issues

by Bryan Bowman
March 11, 2020
Former US Vice President Joe Biden attends a rally with striking workers in Dorchester Massachusetts, April 2019.
National

New Race: Bloomberg Suspends Campaign, Endorses Resurgent Biden After Super Tuesday

by Staff Writer
March 4, 2020
Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders
Opinion

Unsolicited Advice for Sanders: Stay Away From the Cuba Trap

by Luis Martínez-Fernández
February 27, 2020
Next Post
A men looking at his computer screen saying 'voyeurs are watching you'

VPNs are Powerful but Risky. Get an App You Can Trust and Forget the Free Ones

Venezuelans carrying groceries cross a bridge from Colombia back to Venezuela

Time is Now: Venezuela's Migrant Crisis Needs Drastic Response

Recommended

Syrian rescuers and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building, in the rebel-held northern countryside of Syria's Idlib province on the border with Turkey, early on February 6, 2023. Syrian rescuers (White Helmets) and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building

Quake Kills Over 1,200 Across Turkey, Syria

February 6, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
A supporter of nurses' strike and NHS holds a placard

UK Faces Fresh Mass Strikes as Wage Talks Derail

February 1, 2023
Israeli security forces in Jerusalem

Palestinian Gunman Kills 7 in East Jerusalem Synagogue Attack

January 30, 2023
The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023

Opinion

Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post