Poll: Majority of Americans Oppose Scrapping Private Health Insurance

A CNN poll released Monday found that 57 percent of Americans oppose any Democrat efforts to completely eliminate Americans’ private health insurance in favor of a Medicare for All-style government healthcare program.

A CNN poll released Monday found that 57 percent of Americans said that the government should not enact a program, such as Medicare for All, that would completely eliminate private health insurance, compared to 37 percent of those who said that they should scrap private health insurance, and six percent of those polled who had no opinion.

CNN’s latest poll showcases a three-point gain for those who oppose eliminating private health insurance, which covers over half of Americans.

Further, only 31 percent of Democrats said that a national program should completely replace health insurance, while 48 percent, or nearly a majority of Democrats, said that a national health insurance program should not completely replace insurance.

The survey arises in the wake of the first 2020 Democrat presidential debates, in which several candidates, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Kamala Harris (D-CA), raised their hands when asked if they would eliminate private health insurance in favor of Medicare for All.

During the Thursday night debate, Sen. Sanders admitted that he would raise taxes on middle-class families to pay for big government programs such as Medicare for All, free state college tuition, and other programs.

The survey found that a majority of Americans would remain willing to pay more in taxes if they were to receive a national health insurance program.

Fifty-six percent of Americans said they would pay more in taxes if it would result in a national health insurance program, 40 percent said that the government should not raise taxes for the proposal, and three percent had no opinion.

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS June 28 to 30 among a random sample of 1,613 adults reached through landlines or cellphones by a live interviewer. The survey has a three-point margin of error, and the subsample of Democrat and Democrat-leaning independents who are registered to vote is 4.7 points.