If I am not mistaken, there were still 70+ percent of all Americans that supported universal healthcare as of 2020.

Probably. But 1) far fewer Republicans, and 2) Democrats have been given verbiage to lie about their support for it i.e. "universal access" or "universal coverage" or "universally affordable coverage."

If you ask a Democrat about whether they support socialized healthcare, they'll tell you that they of course support "universal access."

What is "universal healthcare" anyway? It sounds like some the kind of intensely workshopped and whiteboarded meaningless marriage between socialized healthcare and "universal access" that "Medicare for All" was designed to head off.

American votes are fickle, and talking about running a universal healthcare system is easier than actually running one, especially for a country that has a perception of "government bad, companies good" created over the years by conservative propaganda.

I think the Democrats correctly recognize that there is not a deep belief in the idea that of socialized universal healthcare in America. In the survey you quoted, I would bet that about 20-30 out of that 70% support the effects of it (i.e. universal free or cheap healthcare), but would not support a tax increase to pay for it if needed.

The US already spends more per Capita for healthcare. I truly believe a tax increase won't be necessary, it's a matter of creating a sound plan that offers coverage to everyone using what we already spend on Healthcare.

Regulate pharma pricing, cut the insurance companies as middlemen (they make $10's of billion in profit and their CEOs get paid millions), and make medical school affordable, even subsidize it if necessary.

All of these issues we can sit here and discuss for hours have solutions, change will only happen when we all agree that healthcare is a human right, and shouldn't be tied to a job.

> it's a matter of creating a sound plan that offers coverage to everyone using what we already spend on Healthcare

"It's a matter of creating a sound plan" is not the trivial thing you make it out to be without having a broad mandate about healthcare. You sound like the typical person who has never run for political office, but somehow thinks that they would totally fix the system if they were in charge.

Governments are an efficient market of sorts. Affecting the market needs either broad changes in society's point of view, or catastrophic events. It's indicative of the magnitude of conservative thought in American society that even the worst pandemic in US history did not result in a bipartisan push towards socialized healthcare.

For what it's worth – I agree with you about healthcare being a human right, but I'm not the person you need to convince. It's the people in your nearest conservative-leaning district who tend to treat healthcare more like going to the car dealership.

> Governments are an efficient market of sorts.

Is this a joke? You're wildly reaching with the definition of both 'efficient' and 'market' on this one.

The analogy I was trying to make is that if you think there is an obviously undervalued company on the market that is crazily under-priced, you're probably wrong, and the market is probably right.

Similar, if OP thinks that there is an obvious case that Americans would back a completely socialized healthcare system, they are probably wrong, and the politicians that actually spend all their time talking to people and understanding the "market" of votes are probably right. One survey quoting a number of 70% does not mean anything particularly significant.

Medicare is by far the most efficient means in the US to pay for healthcare, including cash.

The problem with healthcare as a market is that it isn’t. We don’t allow medical professionals to decide that you don’t deserve blood pressure medication. But we do let bean counters decide that you get to die for lack of resources.

By doing this not only have we created a moral dystopia, but we’re wasting resources that we supposedly care about.

The results of these polls really depend on how you define universal healthcare. For many the ACA counts as universal healthcare

If you've received any texts from "Pelosi" or "Obama" asking for donations recently, you will notice that the tactics that Dem consultants have settled on for their rhetoric is essentially scare tactics. The short circuits toward amygdala activation preclude the prefrontal cortex from being engaged.

Socialized healthcare is not the only way to achieve universal healthcare. See for example Germany or Singapore.

I don't think that's accurate. Many, maybe most democrats wanted national health care. Everyone I know wants it except my boomer parents and in-laws who of course have national healthcare via medicare. Some people used scare tactics against Bernie. People used scare tactics against HRC, Biden, and Trump. None of them were some "official national democratic party" - the dems have many factions.

"Democrats" were not against health care. Some dems wanted a different candidate to win, and they argued against Bernie. Some dems were against Biden and argued against him too.