Only 26 Percent Of Americans Support Full Repeal Of Obamacare, Poll Finds

The post-election survey released Thursday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation also found hints of a pragmatic shift among some Republican foes of “Obamacare“.

A second lobbyist said Republican staff is discussing the effects of actually getting into law a repeal bill similar to the one passed previous year through the fast-track process known as reconciliation.

Richard Pollack, the president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, says the administration shouldn’t make “any abrupt changes that could lead to significant instability for patients, providers, insurers and others”. Others sought care through local emergency rooms only when health problems became a crisis.

According to an ABC news article on the matter, he may not even be able to accomplish that during his first 100 days in office.

Congressional Republicans have held dozens of votes to repeal or dismantle the 2010 law, but haven’t been able to push through a detailed replacement plan in either chamber.

Fun fact: Before Medicare was enacted in 1962, a whopping 48% of seniors lacked health insurance as opposed to only 2% today.

The poll found some skepticism about that approach.

MU Health Care administrators previously have estimated that the cuts to federal health care payments under the Affordable Care Act would cut $50 million from annual revenue, which is budgeted at $841.4 million for the current fiscal year. It needs to be replaced and repealed. Not so fast, because as it turns out, we really have no idea what we’re going to replace it with.’ In essence, Republicans are telling us, ‘You know, I never thought I’d get this far with this plan, so you got to actually give me some time to think about this, because it’s a big frigging deal, ‘ to paraphrase Joe Biden when the law was signed.

A smooth transition is important for the 20 million people who gained health insurance through the law, and Republicans do not want to be blamed for lapses in coverage.

But undoing President Barack Obama’s signature law is easier said than done. And 24 percent of Republicans now just want to see the law scaled back, up from 11 percent in October.

In contrast, only 35 percent of the public says they favor the law’s provision requiring that almost all Americans have health coverage or pay a fine.

Reyes acknowledged that consumers are fearful of changes that might be coming from the Donald Trump administration. Notably, the share of Republicans who want to kill the law fell to 52%, down from 69% last month.

For individuals, it might mean demands that they pay before receiving services, Wasden said. Perhaps the most straightforward way is to simply look at how many of us can afford our health care expenses when they come up.

“The ACA put in tons of protections for everyone, including younger folks who can stay on their parents’ insurance up to age 26”, O’Toole said.

Eliminating out-of-pocket costs for many preventive services (83 percent of the public, including 77 percent of Republicans).

Closing the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole”. The president-elect already has said that he will keep some of Obamacare’s most popular features, including the mandate that insurance companies can not deny coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

For Medicare, the national health plan for older Americans, program spending increased 4.5 percent to $646.2 billion in 2015.

The least popular piece of the law, particularly among Republicans and Independents, is the requirement that Americans buy health insurance or else pay a fine to the government.

The Kaiser poll was conducted November 15-21 among a nationwide sample of 1,202 adults. For subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher.