Poll: Voters resist pre-existing condition opt-out
Source: Politico
By STEVEN SHEPARD 05/03/17 06:20 AM EDT
When it comes to overhauling the Affordable Care Act, there's one thing voters in both parties can agree on: They oppose weakening federal protections for those with pre-existing medical conditions.
A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows resistance to the new measure’s most controversial provision, with half of all voters opposing allowing states to decide whether to opt-out of requiring health insurance companies to cover Americans with pre-existing conditions. It's a key offering from GOP House leadership to conservatives wary that the party’s previous Obamacare replacement didn’t go far enough in unwinding the law.
Only 38 percent of voters surveyed support allowing states to opt-out of these protections — a figure that underscores the struggle House Republicans and President Donald Trump are having in corralling votes from GOP members who represent districts that lean toward Democrats or are evenly divided.
Despite the sharp partisan divide over the bill — with some centrist Republicans joining the entire Democratic conference in opposition — there is little difference by party in the poll on state exemptions for pre-existing conditions. More voters in both parties oppose those exemptions than support them. "Fifty-two percent of Democrats and 48 percent of Republicans oppose allowing states to opt-out of requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions," said Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult's co-founder and chief research officer. "In this polarized political climate, this is one issue where Democrats and Republicans largely agree."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/03/obamacare-repeal-preexisting-conditions-237902
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Had it backwards.
Haven't had enough caffine yet?
The opt-out gives insurance companies the wiggle room to avoid insuring certain high-cost members, while taking the premiums from the low-cost members who don't need the insurance anyway.
Once they get the wiggle room, we'll see insurance companies taking more & more profits, while providing less & less healthcare to those who need it. Yes that's pretty much what we've had all along - pre-Obama.
Obama's plan isn't perfect and there are problems that still need to be worked out. But it is light-years better than anything suggested by the GOP so far.
Remember that the insurance industry has made *unconscionable profits* from us for the last 50+ years. It's time for that to end, and if they're screaming about it, that's a good thing!
