Just over 30 percent support a public option that allows private insurance to remain, while roughly 21 percent would opt for largely replacing the private insurance system via a single-pay Medicare for All system. (Photo: Shutterstock)
A new poll shows the public wants to see the government's role in health care increase. However, people remain divided on just what that role should look like.
The poll by the Urban Institute of nearly 10,000 non-elderly adults finds that 51.6 percent support either Medicare for All or establishing a government-run "public option" insurance program.
Just over 30 percent support a public option that allows private insurance to remain, while roughly 21 percent would opt for largely replacing the private insurance system via a single-pay Medicare for All system.
Related: How much would a public option cost?
About a quarter of respondents said they were neutral on the issue, and about a quarter said they were opposed to both policies.
The survey results align with warnings from top Democrats that the party's presidential candidates, notably Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, may risk scaring off voters in the general election by pushing for Medicare for All. However, the survey also shows that building on Obamacare via a public option or a further expansion of Medicaid is likely a winning issue for Democrats.
"Most nonelderly adults are receptive or neutral toward proposals for expanding public health insurance coverage," said Michael Karpman, senior research associate at the Urban Institute. "But people who have private insurance may be reluctant to risk losing the coverage they're familiar with, and tend to find a public option more appealing than Medicare for All."
Since the GOP takeover of the White House in 2016, Democrats have won races around the country by campaigning in favor of protecting the Affordable Care Act and expanding Medicaid. Polls have shown that public support for the ACA has risen significantly as the Trump administration and Congress have sought to dismantle it.
Leading moderate Democratic candidates, including Joe Biden, Pete Butigieg and Amy Klobuchar, have championed the public option. Some Democrats sought to include a public option in the ACA a decade ago but it was killed by the Obama administration under intense pressure from insurance groups, which have claimed that allowing the government to become a competitor will inevitably kill off private insurers.
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