While the White House ramps up its final push to sell Obamacare this week, the majority of Americans are skeptical of the new law and believe that it will lead to higher healthcare costs and lower quality coverage.
Some 60 percent of people say they believe Obamacare will cause their personal healthcare costs to increase in the long run, a new survey released Tuesday by the Morning Consult, a healthcare tracking poll found. Meanwhile, 28 percent said their costs would likely remain unchanged, and 11 said they think their costs would go down.
Related: Americans Want to Fix, Not Repeal Obamacare
The survey of 2,192 likely 2014 voters, also found that many respondents expect the law to negatively impact their lives. Forty-one percent said they think Obamacare will make their lives worse. Meanwhile, 35 percent said it wouldn’t have an effect on them and 24 percent said they expect it to improve their lives.
Despite the negative views of the law, the majority of the survey respondents said they do not want the law repealed, defunded or delayed. This is in line with another survey from Hart Research that found the majority of Americans prefer to fix rather than repeal the law.
These findings suggest that the GOP’s Obamacare strategy of repeal and replace is not satisfying the public. So far, House Republicans have voted to repeal or dismantle the law at least 50 times. Sixty-two percent said they want Congress to either make changes to improve Obamacare, leave it as is or expand it. Just 34 percent said it should be repealed, defunded, or delayed.
Still, approval of the law has trended downward in the last month from 45 percent in February to 41 percent in March. About 53 percent say they disapprove of the law, up from 40 percent in February. As The Hill notes, approval of the law is lower than it was in 2010 when Republicans swept the midterm elections.
The GOP has already made clear that attacking Obamacare will be their primary strategy going into campaign season. Meanwhile, some Democrats are embracing the health care law and plan to highlight how many people have gained coverage through the new exchanges this year. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi even called Obamacare a winning issue for Democrats in the midterms.
“This isn’t about politics. This is about the health of America,” she said at a press conference last week. “We don’t weigh its value as to what it means politically. We weigh its value as to what it means to the health, well-being, economic and health security of America’s families. Just because people say, I don’t want to repeal it, but I do want to fix it, doesn’t mean they’re walking away from it.”
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