Partnership Statement On Democratic Debates

WASHINGTON – The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future issued the following statement regarding this week’s Democratic presidential debates:

“Over two nights this week, Americans heard about new government insurance systems – including Medicare for all, Medicare buy-in and the public option – but did not hear how these systems would impact consumers, taxpayers and patients,” said Lauren Crawford Shaver, the Partnership’s executive director.  “The fact is, any of these proposals would lead to a one-size-fits-all government-run system that would force Americans to pay more and wait longer for lower-quality care.  With nine in 10 Americans now covered and a majority satisfied with their health care, our leaders should focus on the constructive steps we can take to improve upon what’s working and fix what is broken – not on proposals that will undermine the progress we have made while saddling Americans with unaffordable tax hikes and threatening their access to the quality health care they need and deserve.”

A new national poll released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that support for Medicare for all is on the decline, as “a larger share of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents would prefer lawmakers build on the existing ACA” and “the share of Democrats who now say they ‘strongly favor’ a national Medicare-for-all plan is down” 12 percentage points in the three months since Kaiser last asked the question.  And as candidates promote plans that would eliminate Americans’ existing health coverage, the poll notably finds that 86 percent of adults with employer-provided coverage rate their coverage as “good” or “excellent.”

And a poll released by the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future this week reveals that voters prioritize improving our current health care system over offering a new government insurance system, often referred to as the “public option.”  Voters across party lines prefer a presidential candidate focused on making those improvements over one who wants to expand government insurance systems, and majorities also “believe that negative outcomes, such as increased taxes and fewer employer-based options, are more likely to occur than positive ones if a government health care program that people could choose were put into place – and most believe it would be unlikely to improve their health care or that of their family.”

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