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data for progress
75% of US Voters Are Concerned About Surging Healthcare Premiums
The new survey also shows that 56% of voters—including 85% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 23% of Republicans—don't believe GOP President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are focused on "lower healthcare costs" for people like them and their families.
The pollsters further found that a plurality of voters continue to blame the president and GOP lawmakers the most for the shutdown, in line with Data for Progress and Groundwork Collaborative's findings from last week.
The new findings track with not only the groups' previous poll but also a survey released earlier this week by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research—which found that 6 in 10 Americans are "extremely" or "very" worried about their healthcare costs going up over the next year.
"While the president's main priority may be his brand new ballroom, American voters have made their priority loud and clear: Averting the healthcare premium cliff that will more than double their insurance premiums," said Elizabeth Pancotti, managing director of policy and advocacy at Groundwork, in a Friday statement.
Trump headed to Asia late Friday after facing rising criticism in the US this week for the ongoing shutdown and tearing down the East Wing of the White House to build a massive ballroom funded by weapons makers, tech giants, private equity firms, and other corporate donors.
Meanwhile, the GOP confirmed Friday that the US House of Representatives won't return to Washington, DC, next week. The chamber's Republicans passed a funding bill before the shutdown, but they couldn't get it through the Senate, where some Democratic support is needed. Democrats want to undo Republican Medicaid cuts and extend expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) credits, but the GOP majority refuses.
The open enrollment period for ACA plans begins November 1. The Washington Post reported Friday that "premiums for the most popular types of plans sold on the federal health insurance marketplace Healthcare.gov will spike on average by 30% next year, according to final rates approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services."
Absent action sought by congressional Democrats, at least tens of millions could face significant premium jumps—on top of the estimated 10 million people who could lose their Medicaid coverage. Pancotti said that "instead of acting to prevent healthcare price hikes for the American people, President Trump and Republicans in Congress are playing games with people's lives."
As GOP Shutdown Drags On, Poll Shows Most US Voters Concerned About Rising Healthcare Premiums
The OBBBA is expected to cause at least 10 million Americans to lose Medicaid coverage, and over 20 million more to soon face soaring health insurance premiums because Republicans refused to extend expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits. Data for Progress, which polled 1,264 likely voters nationally from October 14-15, found that 72% of respondents were somewhat or very concerned about premiums rising.
A majority—52%—agreed that "Republicans' healthcare cuts will kick millions off their plans and double healthcare premiums on average for millions more. Democrats in Congress should only vote for a government funding bill that reverses Republican healthcare cuts, even if that means the government shutdown continues."
The think tank also found that 43% of respondents blame Trump and congressional Republicans "the most" for the shutdown, while 33% mostly blame Democrats, 21% blame both parties equally, and 2% were not sure.
While voters were split (48% each) on whether congressional Democrats "are fighting on behalf of people like me," a majority (54%) said they do not believe that "President Trump and Republicans in Congress are fighting on behalf of people like me."
The polling comes as Politico reports that "the confidence and cohesion from Republicans on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue—and a similar confidence among Democrats—augurs no quick end to what is approaching one of the longest shutdowns in history."
Appearing on The Checkup podcast with Dr. Mikhail "Mike" Varshavski on Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) highlighted that with the OBBBA, the GOP "slashed Medicaid by a trillion dollars. What does that mean? First, it means rural hospitals all across the country, mainly in Republican states and districts, are gonna close. Some have closed already because so many of these hospitals depend on Medicaid. For many counties, like including in some of my counties in upstate New York, they're the only hospital. And they're the largest employer."
"Second, this applies to lots of your audience who I know tend to be young folks," he said. "The parents who were in nursing homes are gonna get kicked out. I was at Silver Lake nursing home on Staten Island where I know your dad lives. The owner told me if these cuts go through, all 300 patients, many of whom are Staten Islanders, are gonna have to leave because I have to close."
"Even more devastating is how the premiums will rise. In other words, we wanna just renew the tax credits that have existed for a while on your ACA," Schumer continued. "If they are not renewed, we asked the Republicans three times, we put votes on the floor, and three times they voted no, unfortunately. Here's what will happen. The average American who's on ACA will pay $500-1,000 more a month, not a year, a month. That's, you know, $6,000-10,000 a year."
The top Democrat stressed that "we hate the shutdown. That's why we want the Republicans to simply sit down and meet with us."
"Essential services, the military, law enforcement, air traffic control, they continue to work without pay. Some other people are furloughed, and they come back when the shutdown is over," Schumer noted. Trump is also pursuing a policy "no president has tried during the shutdown," he added, pointing to the administration's attempt to illegally fire some federal workers.
Data for Progress and Groundwork Collaborative found that 58% of people polled disagreed with Trump's shutdown firings.
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