Regardless of the virtues of Medicare For All, speaking just politically (as in winning elections) I think Medicare For All (MFA) is a losing proposal.
Even with the Democratic party it does not have majority support once you look closer. From recent Monmouth University Poll:
On the issue of health care, 58% of party voters say it is very important to them that the Democrats nominate someone who supports “Medicare for All.” Another 23% say it is somewhat important, 10% say it is not important, and 9% are unsure. However, it is not clear that Medicare for All means the same thing to all voters. When asked specifically about what type of health insurance system they prefer, 53% of Democratic voters say they want a system that offers an opt in to Medicare while retaining the private insurance market. Just 22% say they want to move to a system where Medicare for All replaces private insurance. Another 7% prefer to keep insurance private for people under 65 but regulate the costs and 11% want to leave the system basically as it is now.
Those who prefer a public option are divided into two camps that include 18% who would like to move to a universal public insurance system eventually and 33% who say that there should always be the choice of private coverage. In other words, only 4-in-10 Democrats want to get rid of the private insurance market when the 22% who want Medicare for All now are combined with the 18% who would like to move to a universal public system at some point in the future.
“We asked the public option question in our Iowa poll earlier this month and got a lot of flak from Medicare for All advocates who claim that polls show widespread support for their idea. It seems from these results, though, the term has a wide range of meanings among Democratic voters. Many conflate the public-only program name with a public option. There is a lot more nuance in public opinion on this issue that could become problematic for proponents as voters become more familiar with what Medicare for All actually entails,” said Murray.
The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone from August 16 to 20, 2019 with 800 adults in the United States. Results in this release are based on 298 registered voters who identify as Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party, which has a +/- 5.7 percentage point sampling margin of error. The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, NJ.
And this is before the highly effective Republican and insurance industry fear-mongering has begun! And this doesn't count Republicans!
It's just common sense: If you force people to accept something that you think will be (and may well be) good for them, there are going to people who resist, especially when it comes to health care. However, if you give them a choice (public option) then there's no reason to resist.
Or to use the phraseology of my man, Pete Buttigieg, who proposes Medicare For All Who Want It, you are not forcing the people who don't want (and want to keep their current coverage, warts and all) to succumb. Requiring people to accept MFA only loses you votes.
With Medicare For All Who Want It, you get the support of everybody who wants to be covered by a MFA system, without raising the fear and resistance of people who are not too sure about that just yet, and who's fear is certain to be stoked by the Republican. And its a really easy issue to stoke fear about! So if people aren't ready to give up the private/company/union health care, they can still vote for the Democrat without hesitation!
Why force people (which they will see as the government taking something away) when there's a fine option to let them choose? That's just bad politics, which plays right into Trumps hands.