Kamala Harris seeks to obscure her support for Medicare for All

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is distancing herself from her past endorsement of Medicare for All.

This shift is due to new public opinion research which reveals that it is not in alignment with voters’ preferences.

Only 37% of likely voters are in favor of a government takeover of the health insurance system and eliminating private health insurance as per a survey conducted by Echelon Insights and sponsored by the Pacific Research Institute.

Support for a single-payer system has been declining, dropping by three percentage points since 2023.

On the other hand, 91% of insured voters are content with their current health care plan.

This figure has been rising for three consecutive years.

It is crucial for those with insurance to pay close attention to not only what Harris & Co. are currently advocating for in terms of health care, but also what they have supported in the past.

In her 2019 presidential bid, Kamala Harris unveiled her own single-payer health-care plan.

As a senator, she backed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ proposals for Medicare for All in both 2017 and 2019.

“It’s just the right thing to do,” Harris stated in 2017.

Two years later, when asked about her support for banning private insurance, Harris responded, “Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on.”

Despite claims from Harris’ supporters that she has shifted her stance, there are doubts raised about her true beliefs.

According to polling data, empowering doctors and patients to make the health care system more competitive is preferred by the majority, across party lines, rather than giving more control to the federal government as indicated by Echelon’s research.

Given the challenges faced by government-run health care in other countries, these preferences are not unexpected.

In Canada, patient wait times have significantly increased over the years, with a growing number of people facing obstacles in accessing medical care.

Similarly, the UK has experienced a health-care crisis due to staffing shortages and extended waiting times for treatment.

The dissatisfaction with these universal health care systems points to the pitfalls of centralizing health care.

When evaluating the choices at the polls, it is important for Americans content with their current health care options to consider the ramifications of importing foreign health care systems into the US.

Sally C. Pipes is the president, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is “False Premise, False Promise: The Disastrous Reality of Medicare for All” (Encounter 2020).