Politics

Americans So Fed Up With Healthcare System Socialized Medicine Now Looks Appetizing

A hospital room. (Screen Capture/PBS North Carolina Channel)

A plurality of Americans now back a “Medicare for All” program, according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll released Tuesday.

The newly released survey found that 43% of respondents back a proposal to enact a “Medicare for All” program that would supply government-run health insurance to all Americans. Meanwhile, 24% of Americans said they would oppose such a proposal, while 32% said they were unsure.

Sixty-two percent of Democrats and 47% of independents said they supported the Medicare for All” proposal, while 52% of Republicans opposed it, according to the poll.

The new data comes at a time when many voters have become increasingly dissatisfied with the nation’s healthcare system amid skyrocketing costs. A Families USA poll published in August shows that 81% of U.S. voters now think hospital prices are unreasonable, while just 12% believe they are reasonable.

Experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that more U.S. healthcare workers may soon skip health insurance coverage due to affordability concerns.

The survey also shows that 66% of Americans believe federal agencies should spend more taxpayer dollars to bring down healthcare costs in the U.S. By comparison, just 11% of respondents think the government should not spend more taxpayer dollars on healthcare, even if it results in soaring costs.

Among respondents who oppose a “Medicare for All” program, 38% were concerned that the quality of medical care would be worse than care provided through private health insurance, while 22% cited feeling the program would be too expensive for taxpayers and 21% thought the government should not be involved in providing healthcare.

The pharmaceutical industry’s lobbying has greatly influenced healthcare policies and regulations in the U.S. in recent years, Medical Economics reported. In 2023, the industry shelled out a whopping $378.5 million on lobbying, the outlet reported, citing Statista data.

Price transparency also persists as an issue across the nation’s healthcare system. The Federal Trade Commission issued warning letters to 24 of the U.S.’ “largest healthcare services” on Oct. 5 related to their compliance with hospital price transparency requirements, Fierce Healthcare reported.

“Healthcare is one of the significant ways that people experience economic pressure every day,” Mallory Newall, Ipsos senior vice president for U.S. public affairs, told Axios on Tuesday.

“‘Medicare for All’ is still something that many Americans have questions on,” Newall continued, adding that “the amount of Americans answering ‘not sure’ tells me people’s sentiments aren’t fully formed.”

Multiple Democratic nominees in battleground congressional races have made support for Medicare for All or similar programs an integral part of their campaign. Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, a public health official, states on his campaign website that he “literally wrote the book on Medicare for All” and calls the policy “the path to a healthier America.”

Democratic Texas Senate nominee James Talarico has backed a “Medicare for Y’all” healthcare proposal aiming to let individuals under the age of 65 voluntarily buy into Medicare, KFF reported on Oct. 8. However, Talarico still opposes a mandatory single-payer Medicare for All system.

The Axios-Ipsos Poll was conducted Sept. 25–28. The poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,122 U.S. adults.

The poll’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.