Obamacare has reached new heights of popularity, with a firm majority of Americans holding a favorable view of the health care law in a closely watched poll being released Thursday.
The Kaiser Family Foundation said 54 percent viewed the Affordable Care Act favorably in its February tracking polls, up from 50 percent in January.
It’s the best showing for the law since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, and the support comes even as President Trump and congressional Republicans still talk of a full repeal.
Independents are increasingly coming around to the law, boosting its number and joining Democrats who have always been fairly enthusiastic. Republicans remain generally opposed.
The findings underscore the potential peril facing Obamacare’s detractors in the midterm elections.
Kaiser’s poll found voters are still most worried about rising health care costs, which they rank higher than issues such as preserving Medicare or Obamacare or whether to established a government-run, single-payer system.
A majority of voters in the 18 states that have not yet expanded Medicaid under Obamacare do want to see the expansion, Kaiser found.
“Overall the ACA is now much more popular because of the effort last year to repeal and replace it. My sense it will show up in the polls, but not in the top tier,” said G. Terry Madonna, a politics professor at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania.
The GOP attempted a full repeal last year, proposing replacing Obamacare with grants to states to have them come up with their own options for insuring their residents.
After that effort stumbled, Republicans used their tax cut bill to repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate requiring all Americans to hold insurance or else face a tax penalty. That change kicks in next year.
But there is widespread confusion about the change, Kaiser found. Only 4 in 10 Americans were aware that congressional Republican repealed the mandate, while about 20 percent thought it was gone already.
Only 13 percent correctly said the mandate is repealed starting next year.
Mr. Trump is also encouraging states to reshape their Medicaid programs by requiring able-bodied recipients to work, go to school or volunteer if they want to retain their taxpayer-funded benefits, saying it will lift them up and off the government dole.
According to Kaiser, 41 percent of the public thinks the work requirements are designed to cut government spending by slicing enrollment, compared to 33 percent who say Mr. Trump is trying to lift people out of poverty.
Most people — 74 percent — have a favorable view of Medicaid overall, and slightly more than half think it’s working well for low-income people covered by the program, which is run jointly by the federal government and states.
Eight in 10 Democrats and two thirds of independent oppose lifetime cap on Medicaid benefits — an idea the Trump administration is reportedly considering.
However, slightly more than half of Republican think people should be able to receive Medicaid benefits for only a limited amount of time.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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