Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Majority of Americans Do Not Approve Of Republicans' Health Plans
Note to President Donald Trump and House Republicans: People really don't like your approach to overhauling America's health care. If you're hoping to revive the effort, you may want to try something different. Sixty-two percent of Americans turned thumbs down on Trump's handling of health care during the initial weeks of his presidency, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Wednesday. It was his worst rating among seven issues the poll tested, including the economy, foreign policy and immigration. (Fram and Swanson, 3/30)
Of six changes the GOP bill would have made to health care, five drew more opposition than support. Those included allowing insurers to charge older customers higher premiums than is now allowed (80 percent opposed), surcharges for people whose insurance coverage lapses (70 percent opposed), reducing funding for Medicaid (64 percent opposed) and denying federal funding to Planned Parenthood (56 percent opposed). In addition, more oppose than favor replacing income-based subsidies with age-based subsidies for people buying insurance, 48 percent to 16 percent. (Swanson, 3/30)
A growing majority of Americans – including a sharply increasing number of Republicans – oppose an outright repeal of Obamacare, according to a new McClatchy-Marist Poll, signaling trouble for Republicans still hoping to dismantle the 2010 health care law. Efforts to repeal and replace the law collapsed last week, after GOP lawmakers couldn’t agree on an alternative health care system. (Magness, 3/30)
Meanwhile, the president's ratings drop further. But most people blame Congress, not Trump, for the collapse of the GOP bill —
President Trump’s approval rating is falling in the wake of the GOP's failed effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare, according to a new poll. Trump's numbers have dropped 4 points in a Morning Consult/Politico survey out Wednesday. Forty-six percent approve of Trump after the American Health Care Act’s (AHCA) demise, down from 50 percent in the same poll last week. (Hensch, 3/29)
Republican voters are mostly blaming the failure of the GOP's healthcare bill on Congress, instead of pointing the finger at President Trump or Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll out Wednesday. Among Republicans in the survey, 26 percent blame the bill's defeat on House Democrats, while another 23 percent say House Republicans are at fault. Only 13 percent blame Trump for the failure, and even fewer, 10 percent, say it's Ryan's fault. (Greenwood, 3/29)
