Young voters helped get President Obama elected, but they overwhelmingly oppose his signature legislative accomplishment — the 2010 healthcare law.
Fifty-seven percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 oppose Obamacare, according to a survey by the Harvard Institute of Politics, compared with just 39 percent who support it.
In further bad news for Obama, among a group that he once considered among his most passionate supporters, just 37 percent of those surveyed said they approved of Obama’s handling of healthcare, compared with 59 percent who opposed it.
Obamacare is known for producing both winners and losers, and several provisions in the law are particularly burdensome on younger Americans. Under the law, insurers are forced to offer coverage to everybody who applies for insurance, including those with pre-existing conditions. Insurers are also barred from charging older Americans more than three times as much for insurance than they charge younger Americans. In addition, the law requires all insurance policies to offer a minimum set of benefits.
These provisions were aimed at improving access to comprehensive health insurance among older Americans who haven’t reached Medicare age and would otherwise find it difficult to find affordable insurance. But the flip side is that the costs must be shifted onto younger and healthier Americans.
Obama has touted another provision in the law that forces insurers to allow young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance policies until age 26 as a benefit to this demographic group.
The survey also found that 76 percent of young Americans said the healthcare issue was important in determining which candidates to support in the midterm elections. In slightly better news for Democrats, 33 percent of young Americans said they trusted the party more to handle the healthcare issue, compared with just 25 percent who picked Republicans.
