Battleground Poll: Protecting Medicare, Including Medicare Advantage, is Number One Issue for Seniors in Pennsylvania and Michigan
Senior voters in two key battleground states strongly favor candidates who commit to protecting funding for Medicare Advantage
WASHINGTON – Protecting Medicare, including Medicare Advantage, is the top issue for senior voters in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to new polling by Morning Consult on behalf of Better Medicare Advantage — with 84% of seniors in both states rating the issue as “very important.” A similar share identified reducing inflation as an important concern; no other issues came close.
Medicare Advantage is now the majority Medicare program for American seniors, representing 55% of the Medicare population.
“The numbers couldn’t be clearer,” said Rebecca Buck, senior vice president of communications for Better Medicare Alliance. “Senior voters in Pennsylvania and Michigan are looking to support candidates who will protect affordable health care and stand up for Medicare Advantage.”
A supermajority of seniors in both key states say protecting Medicare Advantage would motivate their vote in November, with 90% of senior voters in Pennsylvania and 89% in Michigan saying they would be more likely to support candidates who commit to protecting funding for Medicare Advantage.
Medicare Advantage is the affordable health care choice for nearly 34 million seniors and people with disabilities, including more low-income Americans and minorities than Fee-For-Service Medicare.
Other key findings:
- Senior voters in Pennsylvania and Michigan have positive views of Medicare Advantage, including 79% in Pennsylvania and 82% in Michigan.
- Seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage say their coverage is affordable: 86% in Pennsylvania and 87% in Michigan.
- Supermajorities of Pennsylvania (87%) and Michigan (90%) seniors agree: Medicare Advantage enhances and adds choice to the overall Medicare program.
- Seniors in both states are worried about the government’s commitment to maintaining access to senior services such as Medicare and Social security, with 83% of senior voters in each state expressing concern.
- Seventy-one percent of seniors in Pennsylvania and 66% in Michigan say health care costs are important to their budget, with supermajorities of senior voters — 91% in Pennsylvania and 88% in Michigan — saying even a 15% increase in the cost of health care would impact their household budget.
The poll was conducted from August 24-27, 2024, among a sample of 303 registered voters age 65+ in Pennsylvania and 300 registered voters age 65+ in Michigan. The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Pennsylvania registered voters 65+ and Michigan registered voters 65+ based on age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, gender by age, and race by educational attainment. Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.
Full results are available here.
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Better Medicare Alliance is a community of more than one million grassroots beneficiaries and 200+ ally organizations working to improve health care through a strong Medicare Advantage. Learn more at www.bettermedicarealliance.org