Is The U.S. Public Ready For "Medicare For All"?

The charts on this page are from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Health Tracking Survey. They questioned 1,190 adults between January 9th and 14th, and the survey has a margin of error of 3 points.

The chart above shows a public option is very popular. About 77% would support allowing people between 50 and 64 to buy into Medicare. About 75% would support allowing anyone without insurance to buy into Medicaid. And about 74% would support allowing creation of a program like Medicare open to all, but allowing those who want to keep their private insurance.

The most exciting one is that 56% would support a Medicare For All program that would cover all Americans. Sounds good doesn't it? But there are still problems, and they are shown in the chart below.

When told it would eliminate private insurance, that 56% drops to 37%. When told it would raise taxes, it drops to 37%. And when told it might cause delays in some medical tests and treatments, it drops to 26%.

These are not arguments that can't be overcome. But they are arguments that Republicans will make, and the public is vulnerable to them. I believe Medicare For All is the best solution to this nation's health care problems, but it is a fact that the public is not quite convinced of it yet.

We will finally get there, but we are not there yet. More needs to be done to allay the fears of the public, and convince them that a single-payer program would be best for this country.