As Republican lawmakers contemplate changes to the health reform law, Americans are divided about what should happen to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a new poll conducted for the Kaiser Family Foundation in the days following last week’s elections.
A quarter of those surveyed want the law repealed in part, and 24 percent want it repealed entirely. Nineteen percent want it to remain as it is, and 21 percent want to see it expanded.
But even those who want it repealed like some parts of the law. More than half of those who wanted some or all of the law repealed supported provisions that provide tax credits for small businesses offering coverage to their employees, prohibit insurers from denying coverage to people based on medical history or health condition, close the Medicare “doughnut hole,” and provide financial help to low- and moderate-income Americans who do not get insurance through their jobs.
Thirty-seven percent of those favoring repeal supported an increase in the Medicare payroll tax for higher earners.
Far less popular was the requirement for nearly all Americans to have health insurance, which only 11 percent of people favoring repeal supported.
Among everyone surveyed, 25 percent said they expect their families to be better off under the health reform law – the lowest since the foundation began tracking the question in February 2009. Thirty-one percent said their families will be worse off and 34 percent said it will not make a difference.
As for the country as a whole, 38 percent said it would be better off, 36 percent said worse off, and 16 percent said there wouldn’t be much difference.
The poll was conducted for the Kaiser Family Foundation by Princeton Survey Research Associates, with a sample of 1,502 adults. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.