Democrats Don't Just Support Medicare for All, 84% in New Poll Want Party Leaders to Make It 'Extremely Important Priority'

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/08/democrats-dont-just-support-medicare-all-84-new-poll-want-party-leaders-make-it

That was the question posed by healthcare justice advocates to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi—and potential Democratic presidential candidates as well—after another new poll showed overwhelming support for Medicare for All by Democratic Party voters.

—Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)According to the Politico/Harvard poll (pdf), released Monday, a full 84 percent of Democrats says “providing health insurance coverage for everyone through a taxpayer-funded national plan like MedicareForAll” should “be an extremely important priority” for the party. Politico reports:

While support for a national, taxpayer-funded plan is concentrated on the Democratic side, 60 percent of Republican respondents backed allowing Americans under 65 to buy into Medicare (71 percent of respondents overall supported the idea, and 83 percent of Democrats).

The poll involved a series of questions that made distinctions between a Medicare for All system that covered everyone, a possible “buy-in” option for people under 65, and a more vague “public option” that could be purchased. “The poll showed most people weren’t aware of a Medicare buy-in or public option,” Politico noted, “but were broadly supportive of the ideas when informed about them.”