Nearly half of Americans say the Republican plan to repeal and partially replace Obamacare would cover fewer people and raise costs, according to a new poll.
The poll, conducted by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation and released Wednesday, found that about 48 percent of the public believes the plan would result in fewer people having insurance, compared with 18 percent who said it would boost coverage.
About 48 percent also expect the House plan to increase costs for people who don’t get insurance through work. Another 23 percent expect it would lower costs, Kaiser said.
The poll is the first one to gauge the public’s thoughts on the American Health Care Act, which seeks to gut Obamacare. It was conducted before the Congressional Budget Office released its estimate of the bill, which found that the legislation would lead to 24 million people not having insurance after a decade. The decline is expected mainly because the plan would eliminate Obamacare’s individual mandate and roll back the Medicaid expansion starting in 2020.
Kaiser found that thoughts on the bill’s impact varied significantly based on political affiliation, as has been the case with the Affordable Care Act.
About 38 percent of Republicans believe that the number of people with coverage would stay the same, compared with 17 percent of Democrats. Another 68 percent of Democrats believe the number of people covered would decrease, compared with 48 percent of Republicans.
The public is divided about whether to repeal Obamacare at all, with 45 percent believing it should be repealed and 51 percent it should not.
Meanwhile, there is more consensus on the provision that would cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. About 75 percent oppose cutting off funds to the women’s health and abortion provider, while 22 percent favor it.
The poll was conducted March 6 through 12 among 1,206 people and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
