'Medicare for All' message attracts midterm voters buckling under medical bills

Voters weighed down by healthcare costs are gravitating toward Medicare for All, and nowhere more than in Michigan's U. S. Senate race, where Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed has made the idea his signature. NPR reports that supporters at his Sept. 11 town hall in Lansing described medical debt, unaffordable deductibles and patients forced to choose between medicine and food. Christina Starks-Clay, a school aide, said she had just withdrawn a $1,000 cashier's check toward her son's dental bills, despite having good dental insurance.

A new KFF poll finds two-thirds of Americans favor expanding Medicare, the highest level in at least a decade, although many are unsure what the proposal means. Traditionally it envisions one federal insurance program that sharply limits or ends private coverage. Pollsters say reactions shift depending on how it is described.

Jonathan Oberlander, a University of North Carolina professor, calls it a symbol for an electorate that wants change. Ashley Kirzinger of KFF says voters want candidates to offer a plan for lowering costs. Oberlander also links the mood to rollbacks under the Trump administration and congressional Republicans.

Summarized by PolitiKool from NPR’s reporting. Read the full story at NPR →