A new, independent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that the country overwhelmingly supports bipartisan action to maintain and strengthen the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and opposes forcing the law to fail as Donald Trump has been attempting to do for months. A similar poll in April also indicated that a large majority of the public would blame Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress for “any problems with the Affordable Care Act going forward.”
What’s more, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that ending the payment of cost-sharing reductions, as the Trump Administration announced they will do last night, would increase premiums for benchmark silver plans on the ACA exchanges by 20%.
In response to the latest polling, American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement:
“The writing is on the wall – the American people want to keep the unprecedented coverage gains and protections for people suffering from preexisting conditions that the Affordable Care Act put in place, and they overwhelmingly oppose Donald Trump’s malicious, dishonest sabotage. Any member of Congress who does not stand-up for the constituents against this partisan attack on their healthcare will not be able to hide from their record.”
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll – October 2017: Open Enrollment and the ACA Marketplaces
Oct 13, 2017 | Ashley Kirzinger, Liz Hamel, Bianca DiJulio, Cailey Muñana, and Mollyann Brodie
KEY FINDINGS:
- The October Kaiser Health Tracking Poll focuses on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) marketplaces as the November 1st open enrollment period approaches, amidst a period of uncertainty on the future of the individual market. The majority of the public think it is more important for President Trump and Congress to work on legislation to stabilize the marketplaces rather than continue efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law (66 percent vs. 29 percent). There are distinct differences by party with the majority of Democrats (85 percent) and independents (67 percent) saying legislation to stabilize the marketplaces is more important while about half of Republicans (51 percent) say it is more important for lawmakers to continue efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law.
- One proposed step Congress could take to stabilize the markets and control costs for people who purchase their plans on their own is to guarantee payments to insurance companies that help cover the cost of deductibles and copayments for lower-income Americans (known commonly as ‘cost-sharing reduction’ (CSR) payments). The Trump Administration has announced they will stop making these payments. While initially the majority of Republicans (55 percent) say these payments should be stopped, when asked whether they support Congress guaranteeing the funds to continue the CSR payments when the proposal is included in a bipartisan compromise that would give states more flexibility in the types of plan sold in their state’s marketplace, a majority of the public (69 percent) – including roughly equal shares of Democrats (69 percent), independents (70 percent), and Republicans (68 percent) – support such a compromise.
- Overall favorability of the ACA increased over the past month with about half (51 percent) of the public holding favorable views of the ACA while 40 percent hold an unfavorable view of the 2010 law. This is five percentage points higher than the share of the public who held favorable attitudes last month (46 percent), and more similar to the share measured in August.
Politics and the ACA Marketplaces
This month’s Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, which was conducted prior to President Trump’s executive order on the Affordable Care Act and the most recent statements from the Trump administration regarding CSR payments, examines the public’s attitudes towards the ACA marketplaces, before the next open enrollment period beginning on November 1st.
The majority of the public think it is more important for President Trump and Congress to work on legislation to stabilize the marketplaces in order to minimize premiums increases and encourage more insurers to participate in the marketplaces than continue efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law (66 percent vs. 29 percent). There are distinct differences by party with the majority of Democrats (85 percent) and independents (67 percent) saying legislation to stabilize the marketplaces is more important while about half of Republicans (51 percent) say it is more important for lawmakers to continue efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law.