A majority of people say the Supreme Court shouldn’t gut Obamacare this month by striking down subsidies in more than 30 states that use the federal Healthcare.gov website, according to a new poll that nonetheless finds support for the law itself waning.
By a 55-38 percent margin, people said the justices should let the subsidies continue to flow to the whole country, the Washington Post-ABC News poll found.
Yet 54 percent of people oppose the law itself, a six-point increase in dissatisfaction from last year. Support for the law rests at 39 percent, matching a record low the pollsters recorded in April 2012.
The justices will decide by the end of this month whether the Affordable Care Act’s text should be interpreted as restricting the tax credits to states that set up their own exchanges. Without the subsidies, Obamacare customers would find their plans unaffordable, sending insurance markets into a tailspin as healthier customers drop coverage.
The Washington Post-ABC News findings are consistent with prior polls that found while more people oppose the law than support it, even more do not think Congress should unravel it.
For instance while only 19 percent of Republican said they support Obamacare, 34 percent said the court shouldn’t invalidate the federal exchange subsidies.
By a 53-40 percent margin, people in states that could lose their subsidies — many of them Republican-led — said the court should not block the subsidies.
That margin widened, 58-33 percent, in states that set up their own exchange and would not be affected by the ruling.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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