This Poll Shows Why Some Democrats Are Skittish About 'Medicare For All'

LOADING ERROR LOADING Health care has proven to be an early flashpoint in the Democratic presidential primary, as progressives champion a single-payer, “Medicare for All” program and centrists favor reforms to the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Bernie Sanders and other backers of single-payer, Medicare for All plans maintain that eliminating the for-profit health insurance industry and guaranteeing all U.S. residents generous, lifelong health coverage is the best and most equitable way to ensure that everyone has access to doctors, hospitals, and prescription drugs at minimal out-of-pocket cost. To achieve this result, these plans would require everyone in the United States to give up their current sources of coverage, whether it’s private health insurance purchased on the exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act, job-based health benefits or already-existing government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Biden, Harris, and other Democrats who are fearful that this disruption would anger the public — and who are also more accepting of the profit-seeking nature of the health care industry — have introduced policies that would leave most of the system untouched, while also creating a public option health care plan that would compete with private insurers.