Nobody wants to pay more for health care.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that a majority of voters 50 years old and older — including most Trump supporters — oppose specific provisions in the American Health Care Act which would make older Americans pay more for health care.
A survey from AARP asked respondents about multiple elements of the health care reform bill, and its findings also reveal an overwhelming majority want action to lower drug costs.
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The survey finds more than half of all respondents (55 percent), including a majority (51 percent) of older Trump voters, agree that allowing insurance companies to charge people five times as much as other adults for the same coverage amounts to an age tax on older Americans. Among 50 to 64-year-olds, who would be hurt the most by such a policy, the percentage is considerably higher, with 62 percent regarding the policy as an age tax.
In addition, a large majority favors retaining the Medicaid expansion, which AHCA would eliminate; 73 percent of those 50 and older say the Medicaid expansion should remain. Even among Trump voters 50 and older, 55 percent say it should be kept.
And older voters aren't fond of pharmaceutical companies, either, with 76 percent of voters 50 and older, and 74 percent of Trump voters 50 and older, agreeing prices for prescription drugs are the result of big drug company monopolies and the deals their lobbyists make. In fact, by a large majority, those 50+ voters say that letting Medicare negotiate drug prices is far more important than restructuring Medicare; 78 percent of all 50+ voters say so, and so do 67 percent of Trump 50+ voters.
Oh, and AHCA? Fuggedaboutit. Restructuring Medicare so that health care is paid for by vouchers for private insurance is not popular. Among all 50+ voters, 59 percent oppose the plan; among independent 50+ voters, 62 percent oppose it; and among 50+ Trump voters, 42 percent oppose it.
In fact, Trump voters view a number of health care issues far more favorably than they do either building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico or even fighting ISIS. They'd rather he let Medicare negotiate prescription prices, cut the cost of prescription drugs, protected Social Security and opposed earned benefit cuts and protected Medicare and opposed earned benefit cuts.
And if Trump fails to do those things? He'll lose voters, with large numbers of Trump supporters saying they will be much or somewhat less favorable to him if he doesn't tend to health care first — or if AHCA hurts average Americans.
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