Polls show that although Americans want universal health care, they are generally wary of dismantling the current Medicare system and outlawing private insurance.

U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently released his health-care plan, which he calls “Medicare for All.” With a name like that, one would think that the proposal involves extending the Medicare system, which provides health-care insurance to the elderly, to all Americans. But Sanders's plan is something different. It would outlaw most forms of private health insurance and eliminate all out-of-pocket costs — something that Medicare doesn't now do.

Related: Medicare for All: Where the 2020 presidential candidates stand

This isn't the most radical proposal imaginable. Sanders's plan wouldn't replace private health care with a government-run system like the U.K.'s National Health Service. But banning private health insurance might prove politically unpopular. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which was much more of a compromise between government and industry, is viewed favorably now, but was unpopular for several years after it was passed: