Voters Support Lowering the Medicare Eligibility Age and Prescription Drug Prices
By Devi Ruia
As the coronavirus pandemic has shown us, there are many disparities in the United States in regards to healthcare coverage — and one of the best ways to close these gaps would be expanding Medicare by lowering the eligibility age and the cost of prescription drugs.
While Medicare currently provides health insurance to Americans over the age of 65, new polling from Data for Progress shows that voters support lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 60. In a survey conducted from August 13 to 16 2021, we found that voters wanted to lower the eligibility threshold by a 25-point margin. This included Democrats by a 57-point margin, Independents by a 14-point margin, and nearly half of Republicans.
The same poll also found that voters support lowering prices for prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies, like private insurance companies do. Voters said that they would be more likely to support a Senate candidate that supported this proposal by a 60-point margin. This includes Democrats by a 69-point margin, Independents by a 61-point margin, and Republicans by a 50-point margin.
Read the full poll and methodology here.
Devi Ruia (@DeviRuia) is a press assistant at Data for Progress.
Methodology
From August 13 to 16, 2021, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,193 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points. N=1,193 unless otherwise specified. Some values may not add up to 100 due to rounding.