Fifteen years working as an emergency room nurse has convinced Kim Bogan that the only way to fix the American health care system is to tear it down and start over. Bogan, who works at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan, spent the midterm campaign working for Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat who made Medicare for All a signature issue and is now a senator-elect.
Voters handed Democrats control of the House and the Senate in the 2026 midterms, driven in large part by anger over the cost of health care. El-Sayed was one of several progressive candidates who campaigned on some form of the policy in states such as Texas, Iowa, Maine, and Michigan. Democrats are due to take their seats in January, with President Donald Trump still in office, which limits what the new majorities can pass on their own.
Medicare for All usually means a government health program that guarantees coverage to every American by replacing most or all private insurance. Supporters say it would end the bills that push families into debt. Critics say it would force millions of people to give up coverage they have now, and that the cost would fall on taxpayers.
Medicare for All support at a decade high
A recent KFF poll put support for a national Medicare for All plan at 66 percent, the highest level in nearly a decade and up from 53 percent in October 2020. Among Democrats, 84 percent favor the idea, while 66 percent of Republicans oppose it. Independents back it by 72 percent. Support falls sharply when voters hear the arguments against it: 76 percent oppose the plan if it could lead to delays in treatment, and 64 percent oppose it if it means higher taxes.
Jonathan Oberlander, a professor and health care reform specialist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the midterm results should not be read as a mandate for single-payer care. “Whatever else people voted for in this midterm election, anger about inflation, anger about corruption, anger about the Iran war, they by and large didn’t vote to have the government take over health insurance,” Oberlander said. He added that the affordability crisis “dominated this election, and Medicare for All speaks to that.”
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont urged Democrats on Thursday to pass Medicare for All when they take control of the Senate in January. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a longtime backer of a public option, signed onto Sanders’ bill last month. If Democrats hold the Senate, Wyden would lead the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees most federal health policy.
Medicare for All faces resistance from moderates
More moderate Democrats may see the idea’s growing popularity as a threat to gains they made in states such as Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina. “If Democrats want to hold those seats, which were very difficult to win, they’re probably not interested in passing Medicare for All,” Oberlander said. The most vocal champions of the policy generally won by smaller margins than more moderate Democrats, even in a wave election.
The health care industry is already lining up against the idea. Michael Cannon, a health care economist at the libertarian Cato Institute, said earlier proposals would have required millions of people to give up their existing coverage, fueling opposition from hospitals and insurers. “If Medicare for All actually had the price levels that Bernie Sanders and Abdul El-Sayed envision, the industry would tear it to shreds,” Cannon said.
Supporters expect the policy agenda to gain momentum heading into the 2028 Democratic presidential primaries, Oberlander said, and state-level campaigns are moving too. Oregon, California, New York, and Washington are all weighing single-payer plans of their own. A panel created by the Oregon legislature in 2023 is due to send lawmakers its proposal for a universal health plan by December 1. Whether the new Congress takes up Medicare for All, or leaves it as a campaign promise, will be one of the first tests of what the midterm wave was for.