President Trump insists that he has a plan to protect people with pre-existing conditions if the Supreme Court invalidates the Affordable Care Act – something that could happen just after the election, thanks to a lawsuit by Republican attorneys general that is supported by the White House. But according to new poll data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, most Americans don’t believe him.
“Slightly more than half (53%) including majorities of Democrats (90%) and independents (57%) say they ‘do not think President Trump has a plan to maintain protections for people with pre-existing health conditions,’” Kaiser researchers said Friday. The majority of Republicans, however, do trust the president on the issue, with 85% saying they think Trump “has a plan.”
When it comes to maintaining protections for people who have pre-existing conditions – protections that were established by the Affordable Care Act and would no longer be valid if the Supreme Court invalidates the law, as the Trump administration is seeking – opinions are even clearer: the great majority of Americans do not want to see those protections overturned.
“Eight in ten adults (79%) say they do not want to see the Supreme Court overturn the protections for people with pre-existing conditions established by the Affordable Care Act and a majority of U.S. adults (58%) also say they do not want to see the Supreme Court overturn the entire 2010 law,” Kaiser researchers said. “Majorities of Republicans (66%), independents (81%), and nine in ten Democrats (91%) say they do not want to see the Supreme Court overturn the pre-existing condition protections in the ACA. Nine in ten Democrats (89%) and two-thirds of independent (66%) also say they do not want to see the Supreme Court overturn the entire law while three-fourths of Republicans (76%) say they would like to see the entire law overturned.”
The number of people who say they don’t want the protections overturned has been increasing dramatically, KFF said, with percentages rising by double digits for respondents in both parties over the last 11 months.
