Two-thirds of U.S. adults now say they favor a national government health insurance plan, the highest level KFF has recorded, although support drops sharply when respondents are told the system could bring higher taxes, longer waits or changes to existing Medicare.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Support for Medicare-for-All has reached its highest level in KFF polling, with 66% of U.S. adults saying they favor a national health plan in which all Americans would receive insurance through a single government program.
The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll found 34% opposed to the proposal, marking a substantial change from October 2020, when 53% favored Medicare-for-All and 42% opposed it.
KFF said the September 2026 result is the highest level of support it has recorded since it began polling on the issue. From 2017 through 2020, backing generally remained around half or slightly above half of adults.
The increase has occurred across party lines, although major partisan differences remain.
Among Democrats, 84% favor Medicare-for-All, compared with 78% in 2020. Support among independents rose more sharply, from 57% to 72%, while Republican support increased from 21% to 34%. Two-thirds of Republicans still oppose the proposal, including 48% who strongly oppose it.
The findings come amid widespread dissatisfaction with the existing healthcare system.
About half of adults told KFF that the system has some positive features but needs major changes, while another 36% said it has so many problems that it needs to be completely overhauled. Only 15% said the system requires only minor changes or none at all.
Healthcare affordability is also a major concern heading into the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Six in 10 registered voters said they were either very or somewhat worried about being able to afford healthcare for themselves and their families, including insurance premiums, doctor visits and prescription drugs. Healthcare costs tied gasoline and transportation costs as the economic concern cited most often in the survey.
KFF also found broad support for a larger federal role in health insurance generally.
Seventy-nine percent of adults said they favor the federal government doing more to help provide health coverage, including 94% of Democrats, 82% of independents and 61% of Republicans. KFF noted that support for a larger federal role has remained at or above roughly three-quarters of adults since it began asking the question in 2006.
The popularity of Medicare-for-All, however, changes substantially depending on how the proposal is described.
When respondents were told a national plan could lead to delays in medical tests and treatment, 76% said they would oppose it, leaving roughly 24% supportive.
If respondents were told it could raise taxes, 64% opposed the plan. When told it could threaten the existing Medicare program, 61% opposed it.
Positive descriptions produced the opposite effect.
Support rose to 76% when respondents were told Medicare-for-All could guarantee health insurance as a right for everyone, while 75% favored it when told it could eliminate insurance premiums and cost-sharing.
Americans were more evenly divided over the possible elimination of private insurance companies. Fifty-two percent said they would favor Medicare-for-All under that scenario, while 47% opposed it.
That represents a notable change from 2020, when only 37% favored the proposal after hearing that it could eliminate private insurance companies and 58% opposed it.
The results underscore the difference between support for the broad concept of universal government insurance and opinions about the tradeoffs that could accompany a specific legislative plan.
KFF itself cautioned that the findings suggest public support could move considerably during an actual policy debate as voters hear competing claims from supporters and opponents.
The survey also found differences by age.
Three-quarters of adults ages 18 to 29 favored Medicare-for-All, compared with 54% of adults 65 and older, most of whom are already enrolled in the existing Medicare program.
The poll was conducted Sept. 16-21 among a nationally representative sample of 1,328 U.S. adults using online and telephone interviews. The overall margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points, while margins for partisan subgroups ranged from plus or minus 6 to 7 percentage points.
The findings arrive as healthcare costs are becoming a more prominent issue in the midterm campaign.
Nearly half of registered voters, 47%, said it was extremely important for candidates to discuss healthcare costs, while 62% said the same about the broader cost of living.
The new polling does not show that Americans have reached consensus on how a single-payer system should be financed or structured.
It does show, however, that support for the basic idea of Medicare-for-All has risen significantly since the last time KFF asked the question in 2020.
With 66% now favoring the concept, the proposal enters the 2026 political debate with broader public support than at any previous point in KFF’s polling — but also with opinion highly dependent on how voters perceive its potential costs, benefits and effects on existing coverage.
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