New survey shows public still divided over healthcare reform
Americans remain divided over the Affordable Care Act, while those who oppose it don't want to see it defunded, according to a new survey conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Opposition to the ACA ticked upward in January as Republicans ramped up efforts to repeal it, yet there is no groundswell of public support for overturning the law, the study found.
"Budget experts say that the budget deficit cannot be tackled without taking on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid spending or by raising taxes," said Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman. "But the American people do not believe this at all. There is a huge gap in basic beliefs and understandings of the problem and what it takes to solve it."
The study found that Americans with unfavorable views of the health reform law rose to 50 percent this month, up from 41 percent in December. Increasing opposition among independents drove much of the change. Fifty-seven percent of independents had an unfavorable view of the law in January, up sharply from 41 percent in December, suggesting that GOP messages about the need to repeal the law resonated with independents during this time period, researchers said.
The survey also found the public is divided on what should happen next. About as many people want to expand the law or keep it as is as want to repeal and replace the law or simply just repeal it.
"Now that the repeal vote in the House is over, Republicans are expected to turn to efforts to defund and slow down implementation of the law through the appropriations process and other means," rearchers said. "Yet the survey found most Americans (62 percent) disapprove of such a strategy. Most Republicans (57 percent) favor defunding health reform in the absence of repeal, but most independents are opposed (62 percent), along with a large majority Democrats (84 percent). Even among those who don't like the law and want to see it repealed, about four in 10 say they disapprove of cutting off funding.
"The public is frustrated with politics as usual and may be saying that defunding a law is not how government should work," said Mollyann Brodie, senior vice president and director of the foundation's Public Opinion and Survey Research group.
[Read about latest Dem effort to defend the law.]
Despite concern over the law, many of the law's component parts remain popular, the survey said. Many say they favor most of the provisions, such as gradually closing the coverage gap known as the Medicare doughnut hole (85 percent), providing subsidies for low- and moderate-income Americans to buy health insurance (79 percent), establishing a voluntary insurance program known as the CLASS Act to help pay for long-term care services (76 percent) and expanding the Medicaid program (67 percent).
Some provisions are less popular, researchers found, including requirements that all but the smallest employers offer health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty (51 percent oppose this) and, most controversially, that nearly all Americans obtain health coverage or face a fine (76 percent oppose).
[The GOP is taking the battle over the mandate to court. Read more.]
The Kaiser Family Foundation said the survey was conducted Jan. 4-14 among a nationally representative random sample of 1,502 adults ages 18 and older.
