As One Nation has been on air with a multimillion-dollar national advertising blitz highlighting the flaws of Medicare for All, new reports show Democrats are now rethinking their rush to support this increasingly unpopular program.
Several prominent Democrat leaders are panning this radical idea:
- California Senator Kamala Harris:“I don’t think it was any secret that I was not entirely comfortable – that’s an understatement. I finally was like, ‘I can’t make this circle fit into a square.'”
- Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:“Of course it would be [problematic in the 2020 election]. How are you going to get it passed?”
- Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden:“…people recognize that some of the concerns about single-payer are not coming from special interests but the public.”
- Former Obama HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:“Anything that calls for the vast majority of Americans to lose what they have – that’s a very dangerous place to start a conversation.”
And a cascade of recent public polling suggests support for Medicare for All is collapsing as Americans are getting educated about the program:
- A Kaiser Family Foundation pollfound support for Medicare for All dropped 8 points since March. Respondents supported building on the current system over replacing it with Medicare for All by a 55% to 39% margin.
- An NPR-PBS-Marist national poll found that among those surveyed, only 41% said Medicare for All is a good idea, while 54% opposed the program. Only 39% of independents support abolishing private insurance.
- An NBC/WSJ poll found support for the program had dropped five points since 2017, to 44% support, 49% oppose. Additionally, among independents, only 36% favored the plan, while 53% opposed it.
Senator Harris, for her part, introduced her own modified Medicare for All plan after cosponsoring Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ plan. However, Harris’ proposal would still transition every American into the same government-run health care system over ten years and eliminate employer-provided insurance for 180 million Americans, mirroring the most unpopular provisions of Sanders’ plan.
One Nation launched the first, multimillion-dollar wave of a national advertising effort to educate voters about the pitfalls of a Medicare for All system in June. The organization announced a second, $4 million national advertising blitz beginning at the end of July and stretching through the month of August in targeted states.
“Even liberals are starting to realize that once Americans get the facts about Medicare for All, they run away from it as fast as they can. However, politicians like Sen. Kamala Harris are already trying to pass off functionally identical schemes as something totally different, and One Nation will continue to help Americans understand what is at stake for their health care under these dangerous proposals.” -One Nation Communications Director Jack Pandol