ABSTRACT
Medicare is an overwhelmingly popular program with the American public. While many Americans accepted that Medicare had to be reformed in 1995 to avoid bankruptcy, most Americans were not willing to support major changes or changes that would have increased the burden on Medicare recipients. The public’s opposition to the 1995 proposals to reform Medicare was used to help explain why the Republican majority in the House of Representatives loss seats in the 1996 election. Older Americans’ views on Medicare reform were used to explain their increased political participation in the 1996 election. Thus, policymakers who advocate major reform of Medicare must somehow shift the public’s attitudes concerning acceptable changes to the program. Based on the results, neither critical media coverage of policymakers nor knowledge of the Medicare program had a significant impact on the public’s support for policymakers reforming the program or specific policy proposals.
