Americans are warming to a healthcare idea that once seemed politically impossible

fastcompany.com

Americans have hit a breaking point with health insurance. Saddled with growing medical bills and totally reliant on stable jobs to stay healthy, the majority of Americans now say they would prefer a government plan that offers health insurance to everyone.  Two-thirds of U.S. adults now support a national healthcare plan or “ Medicare for All ,” according to recent polling from health policy research group KFF. That’s a dramatic increase from 2020, when 53% of U.S. adults favored universal healthcare through a government plan, an option common among other wealthy nations.  In the poll, 32% of respondents said they would “strongly favor” a single government healthcare plan that provides insurance for all Americans. An additional 34% of those polled said they would “somewhat favor” the overhaul to the U.S. healthcare system, with just 15% saying they “somewhat oppose” the idea and 19% saying they “strongly oppose” it. In the KFF poll, 84% of Democrats and 72% of independents were in favor of a national health insurance plan, compared with 34% of Republicans. Another survey published this week by Axios-Ipsos confirmed the swell of support for reinventing the current U.S. healthcare system. In that poll, 43% of respondents said they would support a Medicare for All proposal that would replace the current private health insurance system. In that poll, 24% of respondents said they would oppose such a plan, while 32% reported being “unsure.” More Democrats (62%) and independents (47%) favored a government-run healthcare system, while a slight majority of Republicans opposed the idea (52%). Crushing healthcare costs Soaring support for a government-run health insurance system isn’t a mystery. Americans spend more on healthcare than people in other wealthy countries, but the U.S. government spends more, too —even without a broad national plan that insures everyone. Somehow all of that spending still adds up to worse health outcomes. In spite of spending twice what many of its peer countries spend per capita on healthcare, Americans live shorter, less healthy lives . Americans are paying more and getting less when it comes to healthcare—and that spending is stretching them thin. In the richest country in the world by many measures, people are skipping doses of their meds and even buying less food to afford their rising healthcare costs .  In the new Axios-Ipsos poll, 69% of Americans said they were worried about the rising cost of healthcare, with the same percentage reporting that a 10% increase in costs would hurt their family’s financial situation. A shocking 100 million Americans were already crushed under the weight of medical debt in 2022, and the situation is unlikely to improve given recent cuts to Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies . In 2024, Americans took out $74 billion in loans to pay their medical bills, with most borrowing more than $500. U.S. voters fed up with the current state of health insurance will have a way to voice that displeasure soon. Progressive Democrats in some key November battleground races are running on a push for Medicare for All, but the party’s center and its leadership have yet to warm up to the idea in spite of soaring support among their constituents.