Perk up your ears, GOP: 40 percent of your fellow Republicans are in favor of subsidized health premiums.
This blast comes from a survey done by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which asked people across the U.S. what they thought Congress should do if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the current federal premium subsidies. The vast majority favored a new federal law offering the subsidies to everyone regardless of the state they live in. And four out of 10 self-identifying Republicans said they were in favor of such a law.
Of course, the GOP may never be put to that test should the court rule that the federal subsidies are legal. Right now, state exchange insurance packages come with a state subsidy; those aren't being challenged by King v. Burwell. Rather than asking for a state-by-state subsidy in those states that would be affected by an adverse (to the Obama administration) ruling, respondents favored a federal law covering all states.
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Here are key exchange-related findings of the study:
- 64 percent say Congress should pass a law making subsidies available in all states;
- 40 percent of Republicans favor such a law, with a solid majority of Democrats and Independents supporting such legislation;
- 59 percent of residents in the healthcare.gov states say they would want their state to act to operate its own exchange;
- By party declaration, 61 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and 51 percent of Republicans favor a state exchange in those now served by the federal exchange.
Kaiser asked people what they thought of the House bill that would change the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's definition of fulltime labor. One-third said they didn't understand it, while more opposed the bill (40 percent) than supported it (26 percent).
Other findings from the poll include:
- Most see lawmakers' proposals to change the PPACA as an attempt to gain political advantage (63 percent) rather than to improve the law itself (29 percent). Large majorities of Democrats and independents feel this way, while Republicans are divided.
- The public's overall views on the PPACA haven't changed in the past few months, with slightly more viewing the law unfavorably (46 percent) than favorably (40 percent), with wide gaps by party identification.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
