Voters back Medicare expansion, keeping private insurance

[RandySF]

The majority of voters in a new poll supports a health care plan that would expand a public option but maintain the private insurance industry.

Sixty-seven percent of registered voters support allowing people under 65 to have an option to buy health care coverage through a Medicare program, while keeping private insurance options available, according to the Wall Street Journal/NBC news poll released Sunday.

Less than half of registered voters, 41 percent, support a single-payer Medicare for All system that would eliminate the private health insurance industry, according to the survey

That proposals are more popular among Democratic voters. But even among Democrats, keeping a private insurance option is more widely supported, pollsters found.

The survey found 78 percent of Democratic primary voters said they support allowing people under 65 to have the option to buy health care coverage through a Medicare program.

A smaller percentage of Democratic voters, 63 percent, said they support a single-payer health care system that would eliminate private health insurance

The results come as Democrats in the presidential primary debate different health care proposals. Progressive candidates such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) support a Medicare for All system that would entirely rid the private health care industry.



https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/462519-poll-voters-back-medicare-expansion-keeping-private-insurance

[Buckeyeblue]

1. That's a decent compromise

I would prefer single payer but we aren't there yet. I would say that anyone could opt into Medicare, even if their employer offered insurance.

[athena]

2. Leadership is often not about doing what the majority of the people want.

If it were, we would still have slavery, women would not be allowed to vote, and LGBTQ couples couldn't get married.

Leadership is about recognizing what is right, and leading the public to recognize it as well. The fact that Americans have been scared away from single-payer health care for decades by the right wing is no reason to withhold single-payer health care from them forever.

[kstewart33]

3. Leadership is doing what is first essential.

Winning the election and we surely won't by denying many millions what they want - keeping their own insurance.

It's an election killer and there's way too much at stake to risk it.

[Cha]

4. I'll take the "leaders" who give people

a choice for their health plan.

Sixty-seven percent of registered voters support allowing people under 65 to have an option to buy health care coverage through a Medicare program, while keeping private insurance options available, according to the Wall Street Journal/NBC news poll released Sunday.