Medicare-for-All is a hot topic with the primary elections in full swing, but how much do people know about the Medicare system we currently have in place? Turns out there is still a great deal of confusion regarding how Medicare operates. A recent survey by Eligibility.com found that 50% of US citizens believe Medicare is free.
Report highlights include:
- 26% of respondents believe that Medicare is a part of Obamacare
- 41% of respondents older than 54 believe that they will be automatically enrolled in Medicare when they’re eligible
- 58% of respondents knew that Lyndon B. Johnson was the president who created Medicare, while 21% thought it was Barack Obama, 20% answered Bill Clinton, and two respondents said it was Donald Trump.
Commentary:
This is almost certainly what’s driving the support many have for the Democrats’ Medicare-for-All plan. Single-payer healthcare is designed to provide one point of payment and management of health insurance. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s free. For some, it will be. For most, it will mean paying for healthcare through government-provided insurance and also paying for it through higher taxes. This double-dipping problem is something many Americans simply don’t know about because they haven’t done the research.
But ignorance cannot be blamed on the people alone. Yes, it’s our responsibility as Americans to be aware of what government is doing as well as what candidates plan on doing, but it’s also incumbent on politicians to shout out the information if necessary. Democrats have avoided the issue even following direct questions because they realize it would be less popular as people learn more about it. Republicans have done a poor job of getting the truth out, going into rants about socialism instead of presenting the plain truth which in itself should be enough to draw mass condemnation of the plans.
The saddest thing about the rationale for supporting Medicare-for-All is most Americans do not trust government to manage simple things, let along something as complex as healthcare. Yet the left’s answer to this is… more government control.
We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.
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