'Medicare for All' message attracts midterm voters buckling under medical bills
Christina Starks-Clay doesn't know how "Medicare for All" would work exactly, but she's willing to bet it'd be better than what she has now.
While standing in line for a Sept. 11 town hall for U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Lansing, she whipped out her phone and pulled up a screenshot.
It was of the $1,000 cashier's check she'd picked up at the bank that day to pay down a chunk of her son's dental bills.
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she → attract → bills
Starks-Clay, an early childhood special education paraprofessional, still owed the dentist $389, even with good dental insurance.
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Clay → owe → insurance
Her own cleaning a few weeks before had cost $600.
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cleaning → cost → 600
She tried to talk herself down at the bank, to focus on being grateful for what she could afford.
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she → try → what
"I'm like, 'Tina, OK, you were in a position for this moment to do this,'" she said.
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she → say → this
"A lot of people couldn't do what I had to do today.
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I → do → what
I couldn't do it.
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I → do → it
But I did it.
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I → do → it
So I need to hear, how are you going to make this better for everyone?"
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this → need → everyone
Many who waited in the hot sun that afternoon in a line stretching blocks through downtown Lansing shared similar anxieties.
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who → wait → anxieties
A man ahead of Starks-Clay talked about watching his brother rack up thousands of dollars in medical debt.
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brother → talk → debt
A professor emeritus at nearby Michigan State University worried aloud about his grandkids' medical care, because his adult kids were struggling to meet a $9,000 insurance deductible.
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kids → worry → deductible
Healthcare workers who'd turned up for the event described patients choosing between affording medication or food, or how they themselves had been financially devastated by a medical crisis.
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they → turn → crisis
They all knew El-Sayed's rallying cry by heart, chanting it when the Michigan Democrat took the stage: "Money out of politics!
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Democrat → know → politics
Support for Medicare for All is at its highest in at least a decade, according to a new KFF poll.
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Support → accord → poll
The survey found two-thirds of Americans now favor expanding the government health program that largely covers seniors (about half of whom are enrolled in private plans through Medicare Advantage).
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half → find → Advantage
But many people don't actually know how to define Medicare for All.
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people → know → All
Traditionally, the idea has been to establish a single health insurance program, run by the federal government, that would guarantee coverage for Americans and minimize or even eliminate private insurance.
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that → establish → insurance
How much people like the idea depends on what they're told about it, pollsters have found.
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pollsters → like → it
Still, at a time when fewer than half of Americans say they can afford their healthcare, Medicare for All has become a progressive shorthand for radical, systemic change.
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Medicare → say → change
"Too many people don't have health insurance, too many people who do have insurance can't afford medical care, and many people are terrified about the costs of being sick," said Jonathan Oberlander, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Oberlander → have → Carolina
who specializes in the politics of healthcare reform
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who → specialize → reform
"And in an electorate that wants change, that is disenchanted with the status quo, Medicare for All is an important symbol," he said.
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he → want → All
That's why Democrats running for Senate seats in the midterm elections in such states as Maine, Minnesota, and Florida tout their support for scrapping the current health insurance system in favor of broad Medicare coverage.
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Democrats → run → coverage
But nowhere is the issue as central to a race as in Michigan, where Medicare for All has become synonymous with El-Sayed.
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Medicare → become → Sayed
El-Sayed, who trained as a doctor and served as Detroit's top public health official, has campaigned on Medicare for All since his unsuccessful bid for governor in 2018.
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who → train → 2018
To Starks-Clay, that means he has a plan and will "stick to it," she said.
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she → mean → it
That's appealing to voters right now, said Ashley Kirzinger, director of survey methodology at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.
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that → appeal → News
"When we ask people what do they want to hear from candidates in regards to healthcare, it's a plan to bring down healthcare costs," Kirzinger said.
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Kirzinger → ask → costs
Medicare for All has been the shiny object of progressive politics in previous campaigns, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential bid and the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
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Medicare → include → bid
Its popularity rises and falls in cycles, Oberlander said.
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Oberlander → rise → cycles
And today, people are painfully aware their care is getting more expensive and harder to access.
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care → get → ?
In the first decade or so after the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the nation's uninsured rate was cut nearly in half.
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rate → cut → half
Insurance companies could no longer deny people coverage based on preexisting conditions.
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companies → deny → conditions
Since then, to cover more people, 40 states plus Washington, D.C., have expanded Medicaid, the government health program for those with low incomes or disabilities.
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states → cover → incomes
Now it feels as if we're moving backward, Oberlander said.
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Oberlander → feel → ?
"We are now, in the past two years, in an era where the Trump administration and congressional Republicans have reversed that progress."
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administration → reverse → progress
Michigan, a battleground state that President Donald Trump won in 2024, saw some of the steepest ACA plan enrollment drops after the GOP-controlled Congress allowed enhanced tax subsidies, which helped people afford their premiums, to expire at the end of last year.
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people → win → year
Insurance companies in Michigan hiked individual marketplace rates by an average of 20%.
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companies → hike → %
And up to 355,000 Michiganders are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage in 2028 because of cuts included in Trump's signature law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to estimates from the Urban Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
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Michiganders → expect → Institute
…and 35 more, not listed.
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