Who Supports Medicare For All? And Who Doesn't?

A couple of days ago, Rick Nolan, a progressive congressman from a district in Minnesota Trump won (54.2-38.6%) tweeted that he and John Conyers had introduced one of the first Medicare-for-All bills in 1978. "America, he wrote, is ready!" Here's a clip of Bernie explaining why the U.S. should aim for single-payer healthcare in 1992. Harvard's School of Public Health conducted a poll for Politico on Americans' top priorities for Congress for the rest of the year.

When asked how important each of ten domestic issues being widely discussed in Washington should be for Congress, the top priorities for Republicans are to revisit repealing and replacing Obamacare (53%) and reduce the budget deficit and government spending (36%). The top priorities for Democrats are to take action to lower prescription drug prices (51%) and continue the investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 election (44%).

What I found most interesting about the chart from the poll is how Democrats and independents are so in synch on so many issues. Republicans are consistently the odd-man-out on the issues Americans are most concerned about, not just on healthcare but across the whole policy spectrum. And this is very much in line with what other recent polls have found. Look at this one from a recent PPP survey:

This is not good news for Republicans heading into the 2018 midterms. Now that Republicans, with control of both Houses of Congress and the presidency, have failed-- several times-- to repeal Obamacare, interest in Bernie single payer, Medicare-For-All plan is at an all time high. His bill takes Medicare and makes it automatic for all Americans, regardless of age,adds care for teeth, eyes and ears, and eliminates co-pays. It eliminates for-profit insurance companies from the healthcare system-- along with their incentives for denying doctors' requests for care for their patients (although people would be able to buy supplemental private insurance if they wished, which doesn't seem to make any sense). It includes "hospital services, including emergency services and inpatient drugs; ambulatory patient services; primary and preventive services, including disease management; prescription drugs, medical devices, and biological products; mental health and substance abuse treatment services, including inpatient care; laboratory and diagnostic services; comprehensive reproductive, maternity, and newborn care; pediatrics; oral health, vision, and audiology; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices"-- and it is universal.

This is going to take some years to pass-- starting with the election of not just more Democrats to Congress, but progressive Democrats. Many conservative Democrats do not support Medicare-For-All, especially not the money-grubbers who are bribed for the healthcare industry. So far these are the senators who have signed on as co-sponsors:

• Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
• Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
• Cory Booker (D-NJ)
• Al Franken (D-MN)
• Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
• Kamala Harris (D-CA)
• Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
• Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
• Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
• Ed Markey (D-MA)
• Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
• Brian Schatz (D-HI)
• Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
• Tom Udall (D-NM)
• Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
• Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

No Medicare-For-All supporters on this list

Chuck Schumer, the picture of senatorial pay-for-play, and a huge taker of bribes from the special interested opposed to the bill, is not supporting it and has hand-picked two corrupt conservative candidates for the two seats Democrats have a good chance of winning in 2018, Arizona Blue Dog Kyrsten Sinema and Nevada right-of-center lightweight Jacky Rosen. The prospects for increasing congressional support for single payer healthcare are better in the House, where a lame and  incompetent DCCC is less likely to get its anti-healthcare candidates past contested primaries against progressives. You can support progressive House candidates who support single-payer healthcare by tapping on the thermometer on the right. The DCCC leaders oppose Medicare-For-All proposals-- again because of special interest money flowing their way-- and they are recruiting candidates in their own imagines, often Blue Dogs, "ex"-Republicans, clueless self-funders to run as Democrats. DCCC leaders have even instructed their candidates to deceive primary voters by falsely claiming to "support" Medicare-For-All in a general sense (while never committing to supporting any actual Medicare-For-All legislation).