Medicare for All Is Gaining Support, but One Major Concern Could Change Voters’ Minds

A record 66% of U.S. adults say they favor a national health plan, often called Medicare for All, according to a September KFF Health Tracking Poll. Only 34% oppose it. That is the strongest backing KFF has recorded since it began asking about the idea, and several progressive midterm candidates are already building campaigns around it. Pollsters then read respondents a series of possible consequences, and one of them sent support plunging to roughly one in four.

Independents Posted the Biggest Jump, Rising From 57% to 72% Support Since 2020

Support has grown across party lines since KFF’s October 2020 poll. Independents climbed from 57% to 72% and Republicans from 21% to 34%, while Democrats sit at 84%, up from 78%. Money worries shape the mood: roughly 60% of Americans say they are worried about affording health costs. Yet even supporters carry doubts about their own plan: 48% of them expect their taxes to get worse, the same share who expect health care to become more affordable.

Support Reaches Three-Quarters When Respondents Hear Coverage Would Be a Right

KFF found that the pitch matters enormously. Told the plan would guarantee insurance as a right, or eliminate premiums and cut out-of-pocket costs, up to three-quarters of respondents favor it. Other arguments pull the number down. Support slips to 52% when private insurers would be eliminated, to about four in ten when current Medicare could be threatened, and to about one-third when taxes could rise. One argument cut deeper than all of them.

Warning of Delays in Medical Tests and Treatment Drops Support to 24%

The argument is the prospect of delays in getting medical tests and treatments. Hearing it, respondents dropped to as low as one in four, the lowest reading among the messages KFF reported. KFF saw the same reaction in 2019, when the warning pushed net favorability to minus 44 points. Critics contend a single payer covering everyone must stretch limited dollars across enormous demand, and waiting helps balance the books. To make the case, they point to two countries.

Canadian Patients Waited a Median of 28.6 Weeks From Referral to Treatment in 2025

The first is Canada. The Vancouver-based Fraser Institute surveyed physicians in 12 specialties and put the median wait between a family doctor’s referral and treatment at 28.6 weeks in 2025, the second-longest on record and up from 9.3 weeks in 1993. Ontario recorded the shortest wait at 19.2 weeks, while New Brunswick reached 60.9. The institute estimated 1.4 million procedures were waiting nationwide. A second Fraser calculation attaches a price to the system behind those numbers.

England’s Waiting List Holds 7.37 Million Treatments, With 113,339 Cases Past One Year

The second country is England. NHS England figures for the end of August show 7.37 million treatments waiting, relating to roughly 6.2 million patients. In 113,339 of those cases, the wait had passed 52 weeks, and the median stood at 12.2 weeks. Analysts say progress on the backlog has stalled, leaving the list essentially unchanged from a year earlier. Critics pair those waits with a price tag from Canada.

A Typical Canadian Family of Four Pays an Estimated $21,115 Toward Public Health Care in 2026

Fraser’s 2026 study estimates that a two-parent, two-child family earning an average $202,885 will pay about $21,115 for public health insurance this year, roughly a quarter of its total tax bill. Canada funds care from general revenue instead of a dedicated tax, so most families never see the line item. Fraser says the cost has grown 1.7 times faster than income since 1997. Critics cite one more Canadian program, and it concerns end-of-life care.

Canada’s Assisted Dying Program Accounted for About One in 20 Deaths in 2024

Health Canada’s annual report counted 16,499 medically assisted deaths in 2024, about 5.1% of all deaths. More than 95% involved people whose deaths were reasonably foreseeable, and 4.4% did not. Skeptics highlight a 2020 Parliamentary Budget Officer estimate that expanding eligibility would trim provincial health spending by a net $62 million yearly. The office wrote that its report should in no way suggest MAID be used to reduce costs. Supporters of a U.S. plan reject the comparison.

Switzerland Pairs Universal Coverage With Some of the Developed World’s Shortest Waits, Fraser Says

Backers argue long waits belong to particular systems, and universal coverage can work without them. Fraser itself notes that Switzerland, spending a similar share of its economy as Canada, delivers some of the shortest waits in the developed world, though it relies on competing insurers rather than one government plan. A Yale School of Public Health preprint modeled a Medicare for All-style program and estimated U.S. health spending would fall by $1.04 trillion, nearly 20%. It has not been peer reviewed.

A 42-Point Drop Shows How Much Medicare for All’s Record Support Depends on the Details

KFF’s September poll places two findings side by side. Two-thirds of Americans back a national health plan in principle, and about one in four still do after hearing it could mean delays in tests and treatment, a drop of 42 points. Taxes, the loss of private insurance, and risks to current Medicare also cost the idea supporters, yet none cut as deeply. Of the arguments KFF highlighted, the fear of waiting did the most damage.