Obamacare fate, medical expenses, Medicare top list of voter concerns
The Affordable Care Act’s future, out-of-pocket expenses and expanding coverage of the uninsured all top the list of concerns U.S. voters expressed as this presidential primary season continues its march toward the Democratic and Republican national conventions.
While 37 percent of respondents listed the ACA as the top healthcare issue, 36 percent pointed to healthcare costs, 26 percent said increasing access for the uninsured and 10 percent chose Medicare as the healthcare issue most important to them, according to a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll that examined the role of healthcare issues in the presidential election.
The Affordable Care Act is still incredibly divisive among Republican and Democratic voters, but only 30 percent overall say they want to see it repealed. Kaiser found 30 percent support expanding the law, 14 percent like it as is and 11 percent support scaling it back.
The breakdown naturally changes when looking at each party's voters separately.
Kaiser, in fact, found more than half of Democratic voters want Congress to expand the Affordable Care Act, a significant increase from the 36 percent of Democratic voters who wanted to expand the law when polled in December 2015.
"This increase may be due to the rhetoric surrounding universal healthcare in the Democratic presidential campaign, with both candidates advocating universal coverage as a goal," Kaiser said.
The biggest healthcare issue for 39 percent of Democrats polled was expanding coverage for the uninsured, followed by the 37 percent who cited healthcare costs and the 30 percent who said they wanted candidates to talk about the ACA.
While Democrats wanted discussions about access, Republicans tended to prefer that presidential candidates express plans for the healthcare law and its repeal in particular.
The future of President Barack Obama's signature legislation has been a hot topic among candidates running for president. The remaining Republican candidates, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, have each pitched ideas on replacing the law.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has said she would expand the ACA, meanwhile, and her opponent Bernie Sanders is in favor of a single-payer, Medicare-for-all solution.
Twitter: @JELagasse
