With the Senate deeply divided on two drastically different healthcare plans, voters make clear which path forward has their support.
by Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams
As Senate Republicans launch a last-ditch attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Democrats flock to Sen. Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All bill, new polling reveals nearly half of the country wants a national single-payer healthcare plan.
While 49 percent of voters surveyed by Politico/Morning Consult said they supported "a single-payer healthcare system, where all Americans would get their health insurance from one government plan," only 35 percent opposed it and 17 percent had no opinion.
A government-run plan is even more popular among Democrats, with two-thirds supporting a single-payer system.
The poll also found that healthcare is an influential topic when Americans consider casting votes for representatives in Congress. Among those polled, 58 percent said passing healthcare reform should be "a top priority" for Congress, and healthcare was the second-most popular topic when respondents were asked which issues were on their minds when heading to the ballot box for federal elections.
This new data comes just a week after Sanders, supported by 16 Senate Democrats, introduced a bill that would guarantee healthcare for all Americans by expanding the Medicare program to every U.S. resident.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are attempting to dismantle the ACA and dramatically cut Medicaid with legislation co-authored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.)
The Graham-Cassidy plan—which must be voted on by September 30, as Repulicans hope to pass it with simple majority vote—provoked a protest outside the Capitol Building on Tuesday, organized by a coalition of national progressive groups and featuring speeches by multiple members of Congress, including Sanders.
"Brothers and sisters we must not take the lifeline of health insurance from millions of our people!" @SenSanders #GrahamCassidyBill pic.twitter.com/Bmxz3btq7F
— PFAW (@peoplefor) September 19, 2017
Photo: Molly Adams/Flickr/CC