Now that the great Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal and replace debate has seemingly ended in Congress, we’ve seen movement by members of Congress towards a bipartisan approach to healthcare reform, starting with discussions on how to improve the current law.
The new Kaiser Health Tracking Poll for August from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that Americans are in lockstep with this bipartisan approach. A majority of the public (57%) want Republicans in Congress to work with Democrats to improve the ACA. Only 21% of Americans want to see Republican lawmakers continue to push for a GOP-only solution to repeal and replace the ACA.
President Trump has said several times he would like to do nothing to improve the ACA so that the law would fail, presuming that it would force Democrats to work with Republicans on a new approach to healthcare. Americans surveyed did not support this approach. The poll showed that 78% of Americans want to see the Trump administration work to improve the ACA. Only 17% of the public would like to see the White House allow the law to fail so it can be replaced at a later date.
The administration’s position may be starting to shift toward where the public would like it to be. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week was quoted in the Los Angeles Times calling on Congress to work together to either repeal or fix the ACA, positing that the current law doesn’t work.
The poll also found that 80% of Americans disapprove of stopping outreach efforts for the ACA marketplace so fewer people sign up for insurance (80 percent). The Trump administration recently suspended or canceled contracts to end enrollment fairs and insurance sign-ups in public libraries, and otherwise end ACA-enrollment assistance to Americans in 18 major cities.
The survey found that 65% of Americans disapprove of the Trump administration no longer enforcing the individual mandate, and 63% did not think President Trump should use negotiating tactics to disrupt insurance markets.
