A recent poll found that a majority of the public now backs a government-funded universal health coverage system, with respondents from both major parties identifying healthcare as a top legislative concern heading into the midterm elections that will determine which party holds congressional power.
A KFF survey found that roughly two in three American adults now back a government-run universal health coverage system — a concept commonly known as "Medicare for all" — marking a rise from the 53% who expressed that view in 2020. Support for the measure split along party lines: roughly eight in ten Democratic respondents backed it, as did nearly three-quarters of those identifying as independents, while about two-thirds of Republican respondents stood against it.
When respondents learned that a single-payer system would eliminate private insurance options, support dropped to 52% — still well above the 37% the same poll had recorded four years earlier.
Covering roughly 70 million Americans — those 65 and older as well as people living with qualifying disabilities — Medicare operates as a federally run health insurance program. Among those who have put forward proposals to broaden Medicare's reach is Vermont's Bernie Sanders, whose advocacy centres on replacing the patchwork of job-tied coverage with a federally administered alternative. Among wealthier nations, single-payer healthcare arrangements are the norm rather than the exception.
The survey's findings on cross-party appetite for overhauling the U.S. healthcare system came against a backdrop of economic strain felt by many voters, with KFF senior survey analyst Audrey Kearney noting that polling conducted throughout the year had consistently captured public dissatisfaction with healthcare costs — a pattern she described as a possible driver of the appetite for structural change.
Among the financial pressures weighing on people surveyed, the cost of medical care ranked at the top, with three in five respondents indicating they feel at least somewhat uneasy about covering those bills. Fuel and food purchases ranked next, with petrol prices cited by 59 percent of respondents and grocery bills by 52 percent.
Fielded across September, the KFF poll gathered answers from 1,328 adults living in the United States, with registered voters making up the overwhelming share of that group.
Candidates backing a publicly administered health insurance plan have appeared on ballots this cycle in a number of states where congressional seat outcomes are expected to shape the overall balance of power on Capitol Hill. El-Sayed, running for the Democratic nomination for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat, has put forward the position that the proposed change would bring down costs while broadening access to coverage.
Survey data from KFF indicated that health insurance access had risen as a priority topic that voters wanted congressional candidates to address in the lead-up to the November 3 election. Congressional Budget Office projections put the number of people in the United States without health coverage at roughly 30 million this year — a rise from 26.6 million recorded in 2025 — tied to reduced federal outlays for both Medicaid, which serves lower-income households, and marketplace plans offered through the Affordable Care Act.
Among the for-profit corporations administering these coverage programs — CVS Health, UnitedHealth, and Humana among them — involvement spans employer-sponsored insurance alongside government-backed Medicare and Medicaid arrangements.
Kearney's data showed that support for the proposal fell when survey questions were framed to include potential downsides — among them, delays to treatment and testing, higher tax obligations, and possible effects on the existing Medicare program — the kinds of trade-offs that opponents of the policy have long pointed to. Support for such a plan climbs, Kearney noted, once respondents learn it would establish health coverage as a guaranteed right and do away with premiums and out-of-pocket cost-sharing — arguments, Kearney added, that both sides would likely deploy in any genuine public debate on the matter.
