{"id":14263,"date":"2020-04-05T11:05:48","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T18:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=14263"},"modified":"2020-04-05T11:05:50","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T18:05:50","slug":"medicare-for-all-support-surges-to-9-month-high-in-new-poll-after-coronavirus-exposes-horrors-of-private-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2020\/04\/05\/medicare-for-all-support-surges-to-9-month-high-in-new-poll-after-coronavirus-exposes-horrors-of-private-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicare for All Support Surges to 9-Month High in New Poll After Coronavirus Exposes Horrors of Private Insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 01, 2020 by Common Dreams<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“How can it be that we spend 18% of our GDP on healthcare but still lack the beds, masks, ventilators, gowns, gloves, and test kits we need to adequately respond to this crisis?” asked Sen. Bernie Sanders.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Jake Johnson, staff writer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 73 Comments<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An elderly patient wearing a mask is seen being wheeled out of an ambulance at Bellevue Hospital in New York City on March 30, 2020. (Photo: John Nacion\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support for Medicare for All among U.S. voters has reached a nine-month high<\/a> in a Morning Consult\/Politico tracking poll as the deadly and ongoing coronavirus pandemic lays bare the horrors<\/a> and systemic inefficiencies<\/a> of America’s profit-driven healthcare system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey<\/a> (pdf), released Wednesday, found that 55 percent of U.S. voters support Medicare for All, a nine-point jump since February. While support for Medicare for All is highest among Democratic voters at 75%, a majority of Independents\u201452%\u2014also support the policy, along with 31% of Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We must transform our dysfunctional healthcare system.”
\u2014Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morning Consult<\/em>‘s Yusra Murad wrote<\/a> that the poll, conducted between March 27-29, “suggests progressive lawmakers may have an opportunity to sway key demographics\u2014support for Medicare for All grew among people in the $50,000-$100,000 income bracket, voters between 45 and 54 years old, and black voters by roughly 10 points each.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With the discussion of enacting a universal healthcare system in the United States intensifying, 43 percent of voters say they are more likely to support reforms to grant all Americans health insurance from the government because of the coronavirus outbreak,” Murad noted. “Notably, that support does not include the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary election\u2014former Vice President Joe Biden.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Common Dreams<\/em> reported<\/a>, Biden on Monday doubled down on his opposition to Medicare for All, telling MSNBC<\/em> that single-payer healthcare would “not solve” the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Biden’s only remaining opponent in the Democratic presidential primary race, has repeatedly argued<\/a> in recent weeks\u2014alongside many other experts<\/a> and advocates<\/a>\u2014that the coronavirus outbreak and the resulting economic meltdown bolsters the case for Medicare for All, the Vermont senator’s signature policy proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanders’ Medicare for All plan<\/a> would provide everyone in the U.S. with comprehensive healthcare for free at the point of service and virtually eliminate the private insurance system which has left 80 million Americans uninsured or underinsured\u2014a number that is rising rapidly<\/a> as millions lose their jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“How can it be that we spend 18% of our [gross domestic product] on healthcare\u2014more than any other major country on Earth\u2014but still lack the beds, masks, ventilators, gowns, gloves, and test kits we need to adequately respond to this crisis?” Sanders asked in a tweet<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We must transform our dysfunctional healthcare system,” said Sanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 01, 2020 by Common Dreams “How can it be that we spend 18% of our GDP on healthcare but still lack the beds, masks, ventilators, gowns, gloves, and test kits we need to adequately respond to this crisis?” asked Sen. Bernie Sanders. by Jake Johnson, staff writer  73 Comments An… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14264,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14263\/revisions\/14264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}