https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2018/12/02/polls-obamacare-fixes-wanted-as-pelosi-nears-speaker-gavel/#10870f58497a More Americans approve of the ACA than disapprove of it, 48% to 47%, Gallup’s poll
ACA approval in the Gallup poll has dipped since “record-high 55%” approval in April 2017
Even after preservation of the Affordable Care Act’s patient protections helped sweep Democrats to a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Americans aren’t happy with the status quo, a new Gallup Poll indicates.
More Americans approve of the ACA than disapprove of it, 48% to 47%, Gallup’s poll , which was conducted earlier this month and released Friday show. The ACA approval in the Gallup poll has dipped since “record-high 55%” approval in April 2017 though the survey mirrors other recent polls like the Kaiser Family Foundation’s poll that show more Americans than not approve of the ACA.
But Americans remain generally dissatisfied with their healthcare and its costs. They want the ACA to remain in place with some changes, the Gallup poll and companion analysis show.
“This year's Democratic e*******l gains in the U.S. House of Representatives virtually guarantee it will not be repealed in the next Congress,” an analysis accompanying Gallup’s poll data shows. “Still, with less-than majority-level approval of the law and 46% of the public calling for significant changes to it, lawmakers clearly have some work to do in fixing the nation's healthcare system to their constituents' satisfaction.”
Exactly what changes Congress may tackle when it comes to the ACA are unclear. Though Republicans are losing control of the U.S. House of Representatives, they will control the U.S. Senate and have Donald Trump in the White House. Trump and the GOP failed multiple times to repeal the law
over the last two years.
The ACA, former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement signed into law in 2010, expanded health coverage to more than 20 million Americans and Democrats campaigned on making sure the law’s patient protections are protected. Some bipartisan insurance reforms could be enacted to protect Americans with preexisting conditions, particularly if the ACA is harmed by any pending litigation.
There are more than 130 million Americans who have at least one pre-existing condition and there are more than 30 million individuals between the ages of 55 and 64 who have a pre-existing condition and could have been denied coverage before the ACA began to take effect.
“A divided Congress does not mean that the coming year will not see any changes to the country’s health care system,” Kaiser said in an analysis accompanying its healthcare poll out last week. “There is an impending lawsuit, Texas v. United States, which may end the ACA’s protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions as well as the Trump administration’s recent actions allowing employers to be exempt from covering the full cost of birth control for their employees if they oppose to it due to religious or moral reasons, which could lead to substantial changes to health coverage for many Americans.”
I've written about health care for three decades, starting from my native Iowa where I covered the p**********l campaign bus rides of Bill and Hillary Clinton through the Hawkeye state talking health reform and the economy. I have covered the rise, fall and rise again of hea... MORE
For more information on healthcare, read Bruce Japsen's book, Inside Obamacare: From Barack And Michelle To The Affordable Care Act.