Americans Want The Health Care System To Change. Just Not Their Own Health Care.
Health care has sucked up a lot of oxygen during of the Democratic debates. And although it’s easy to lose sight of the broader stakes when the candidates are debating the finer points of the health care system, its fate is often a deeply personal and pressing topic for voters, especially when it comes to costs and coverage. So understanding the fears and concerns that have driven health care to the top of voters’ agendas can also help illuminate one of the biggest fault lines that’s emerged in the primary so far — whether it’s a good idea to eliminate private health insurance in favor of a single-payer, government-run system.
The Democratic candidates have basically split into two camps on this question. A more progressive group, led by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, supports a “Medicare for All” system, where a single-payer, government-run plan would eventually replace the current system that includes private insurance. Then there’s the more moderate group, including former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who advocates “Medicare for all who want it” or a public option, that would build on the Affordable Care Act by adding a buy-in option for a government-run plan while still maintaining a role for private insurance.
Both options are quite popular with Democratic primary voters, too — although polling has shown that the public option seems to have an edge. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted in late November, 77 percent of Democrats support a national Medicare for All plan. But an even larger majority (88 percent) support a public option. Another KFF poll conducted in September found that when asked to choose, a majority (55 percent) prefer a candidate who would build on the ACA, while 40 percent favor a candidate who would replace the ACA with Medicare for All.
Democrats’ rising dissatisfaction with the health care system can help explain why the issue is getting so much traction in the primary. According to a Gallup poll released earlier this year, 84 percent of Democrats say the health care system is in a state of crisis or has major problems — an increase of more than 20 percentage points since 2016. Ashley Kirzinger, associate director for public opinion and survey research at KFF, said that this is likely due in part to the increasing prominence of health care in the political atmosphere after Sanders’s run for president in 2016 and President Trump’s attempts to kill or undermine the ACA. But she added that Democrats are also responding to a real increase in out-of-pocket health care costs, fueled by rising premiums and deductibles.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-want-the-health-care-system-to-change-just-not-their-own-health-care/
