“It is notable that not a single one is sympathetic to a Medicare-for-all, or “government-run healthcare” (as many of my interviewees called it).”

A possible reason is American’s experience with Federal health care. In the case of the Veterans Administration Health Care it has a warranted reputation for incompetence. Due to a shortage of physicians and facilities, in some cases veterans died before being allowed to obtain a medical diagnosis and treatment. Administrators altered appointment requests to hide their unacceptable backlog. Facilities and procedures were not periodically inspected for medical standards compliance. Medicare has significant fraud problems due to lack of adequate oversight. Unethical medical providers bill for unnecessary or even unperformed medical procedures. Many physicians refuse to accept Medicare patients because of reduced medical care reimbursements and excessive billing complexity. The only efficient federal program I’m aware of is the Thrift Savings Plan administered by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. The federal government should demonstrate its competence by fixing Veterans Care and Medicare before implementing universal medical care and restricting or eliminating private care options. The response to incompetence should be restriction or elimination instead of expansion.