Midterms set up Medicare for All fight, expert says

Michigan Nurse Kim Bogan Campaigns for Abdul El-Sayed as Midterms Set Up Healthcare Fight

Fifteen years working as an emergency room nurse has left Kim Bogan convinced that rebuilding the American healthcare system from the ground up is the only solution. Her patients arriving for triage are sicker than ever. They can’t afford many of the prescriptions they get in the ER. And on occasions when patients pass away, she asks herself whether she might have saved them had she not been juggling five or six other individuals simultaneously.

That reality drove Bogan to spend the past year shuttling between 12-hour shifts at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan, and campaigning for Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed made “Medicare for All” a signature issue in his congressional campaign and is now a senator-elect. Yet progressive victories in states like Texas, Iowa, Maine, and Michigan do not guarantee an easy path forward for government-guaranteed coverage that replaces private insurance. “Nobody expected that,” Bogan said.

Midterms set up Medicare for All fight, expert says — Photo: cbsnews.com

Political Risks and Divergent Views on Universal Healthcare

Critics point out that even during the massive blue wave of the 2026 midterms, the most vocal champions of Medicare for All generally won by smaller margins than their more moderate counterparts. Jonathan Oberlander, a healthcare reform expert and professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, noted that voters across the country focused on issues like inflation, corruption, and the Iran war. “Whatever else people voted for in this midterm election … they by and large didn’t vote to have the government take over health insurance,” Oberlander said.

At the same time, universal healthcare advocates view the current situation as a rare window for change as families struggle with escalating medical bills. Oregon and several other states are already exploring single-payer systems. However, moderate Democrats worried about holding seats in red-leaning states view the policy as a substantial political risk. Michael Cannon, a healthcare economist at the libertarian Cato Institute, argued that the healthcare industry would fiercely oppose any plan matching the price levels envisioned by progressive lawmakers like El-Sayed and Bernie Sanders.

Defending a healthcare system that’s failing us is our own American version of Stockholm syndrome (except they’ve got much better healthcare in Stockholm). My thoughts with @briantylercohen: pic.twitter.com/W27qpFqID5

— https://x.com/AbdulElSayed/status/2014355957761945966

Personal Stakes Amid Expiring Subsidies and Soaring Costs

For former nurse Jaime Bardenhagen of Leelanau County, Michigan, the affordability crisis hit home when her family’s health insurance costs skyrocketed after enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies expired. Bardenhagen lives with Parkinson’s and sialidosis, a rare genetic disease that can cause seizures. Monthly premiums jumped from $700 to $1,300 with a $7,500 deductible, forcing her and her husband to skip essential medical tests. Despite growing up on a farm with a deep skepticism of government assistance, Bardenhagen now supports Medicare for All because she feels the insurance companies, not doctors, were calling the shots, determining which prescriptions and procedures patients could receive.

That perspective collides directly with warnings from Cannon. Cannon argued that previous Medicare for All proposals would have required getting millions of people to willingly give up their existing coverage, fueling opposition from the healthcare industry.