A majority of Americans say it is a "good thing" that the GOP's health care repeal and replacement effort failed – and that Congress should now work together to fix the Affordable Care Act, according to the August Kaiser Health Tracking Poll.
The Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed 1,211 U.S. adults and found that 60 percent say the GOP failure was a "good thing," and 57 percent want to see Republicans in Congress work with Democrats to make improvements to the 2010 health care law.
A significant majority (78 percent) also say that the Trump administration should not find ways to sabotage the current law – including roughly half of Republicans and supporters of President Trump, who say the administration should do what they can to make the law work (52 percent and 51 percent, respectively).
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Specifically, 80 percent of the respondents disapprove of stopping outreach efforts for the ACA marketplaces so fewer people sign up for insurance, and 63 percent do not think President Trump should use negotiating tactics that involve threatening to stop cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers, which could disrupt insurance markets and cause people who buy their own insurance to lose health coverage.
About 10.3 million people have health insurance that they purchased through the ACA exchanges or marketplaces, where people who don't get insurance through their employer can shop for insurance and compare prices and benefits.
But problems with the ACA can impact everyone, a majority of respondents say.
Many believe they personally will be impacted, no matter if they obtain insurance through their employer – and Republicans are now also responsible for fixing the ACA's problems, considering they control both the Congress and the White House.
"Since Congress began debating repeal and replace legislation, there has been news about instability in the ACA marketplaces which has led some insurance companies to charge higher premiums in certain marketplaces," the authors write. "Six in ten Americans think that health insurance companies charging higher premiums in certain marketplaces will have a negative impact on them and their family, while fewer (31 percent) say it will have no impact."
Seventeen counties that collectively have 9,595 enrollees on the ACA exchanges are currently at risk of having no insurer selling plans in their area.
About four in ten (38 percent) of all of the survey respondents believe that health insurance companies choosing to not sell insurance plans in certain marketplaces will have a negative impact on them and their families.
"The majority of the public think both of these ACA marketplace issues will affect everyone who has health insurance and not just those who purchase their insurance on these marketplaces," the authors write.
The vast majority (76 percent) say that health insurance companies charging higher premiums in certain marketplaces will affect everyone who has health insurance.
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Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a freelance writer based in Running Springs, Calif. She has more than three decades of journalism experience, with particular expertise in employee benefits and other human resource topics.
