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New polling published on Monday shows that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), oftentimes called Obamacare, is more popular than it’s ever been before.
The Gallup poll, which was conducted in early November, asked voters to rate how they feel about the ACA. Nearly 6 in 10 voters (57 percent) said they approved of the 2010-passed law, while only a third of voters (35 percent) said they disapproved.
That approval rating is the highest seen for the health care law since Gallup began polling on the law in 2012.
The latest data showcases sustained support for some form of publicly funded health care, as the ACA has maintained an approval rating at or above 50 percent for the past six years, and has had plurality support from voters for the past eight years.
Other polling, however, shows higher rates of support for more robust publicly funded health care plans, including Medicare for All.
According to a Data for Progress poll published late last month, 63 percent of Americans say they support Medicare for All, even with the question including the caveat that it would “eliminate most private insurance plans and replace premiums with higher taxes.” Only 29 percent said they disliked the idea.
Remarkably, even a plurality of Republican respondents — a voting bloc that is normally opposed to large government spending programs — said they liked the concept of Medicare for All, with 47 percent voicing support, according to the poll.
The polling comes as tax credits for qualified enrollees on the ACA’s insurance marketplaces are set to expire at the end of this month, increasing their premiums to as much as double their current cost. Collectively, those receiving the tax credits could pay $23 billion more in health costs next year.
Although lawmakers in Washington have met to discuss the idea of extending these credits, there is no agreement on doing so at the moment, as a GOP-led filibuster would likely kill any such proposal.
In response to the likelihood of ACA tax credits expiring, President Donald Trump has sought to blame the law itself, despite his administration refusing to take action to address the matter.
“We have to fix health care, because Obamacare is a disaster. … When you see the [price] increases in Obamacare, it never worked,” Trump told reporters in October.
In addition to ignoring the fact that his administration made no real push to keep the tax credits in place, the Trump White House also approved a rule change to the ACA that allows private insurance companies to raise premiums at higher rates than they were able to before, creating higher costs for everyone.
A KFF poll published last week found that most participants on the exchange couldn’t afford even a $300 yearly increase in costs, with 58 percent of respondents saying so. Half of respondents (52 percent) said it was “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that they would opt to have no health insurance at all if they were hit with higher costs.
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