Trump vs. Clinton: Voters divided over ACA but 66 percent favor public option
Respondents supporting the idea of the government providing an insurance option to compete with commercial plans could be swayed, researchers say.
Participants in a recent poll are split on what they hope the next President will do with the Affordable Care Act. That's not surprising but their responses to a question concerning a public health insurance option were just that.
"As discussions about the challenges facing the (Affordable Care Act) marketplaces continue, about two-thirds of Americans say they favor creating a public health insurance option to compete with private health insurance plans in the ACA marketplaces," according to the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: October 2016.
Whether that support will continue after the election remains to be seen, however. Kaiser noted that some respondents were open to persuasion when they heard counterarguments, either for against a public option.
Voters also recognize there are differences between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's plans and those of Republican candidate Donald Trump when it comes to healthcare but hey also indicated having a better grasp of what Clinton would do, Kaiser said.
"The public remains divided on what's next for the ACA with about equal shares saying the law should be repealed as saying it should be expanded," Kaiser noted.
Specifically, the poll determined that 32 percent of participants want the entire law repealed while 31 percent hope the next president will expand upon the ACA. Eighteen percent, meanwhile, would like the next administration to continue implementing the law without changing it and 9 percent responded that the ACA should be scaled back.
Not surprisingly, Kaiser also found that voters who support Clinton are in the camp of either expanding the law or moving forward with implementation while Trump supporters, 73 percent of who want the next president to repeal the ACA.
"These differences mirror overall partisan differences with larger shares of Democrats wanting to see the law expanded than Independents and Republicans," Kaiser added.
This article first appeared in Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @SullyHIT
