Poll: GOP should keep money for Medicaid expansion
WASHINGTON — Add Medicaid expansion to the list of Obama-era health care provisions that Americans want to keep. A new poll finds that 8 in 10 say lawmakers should preserve federal funding that has allowed states to add coverage for some 11 million low-income people.
The survey released Friday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation comes as the nation’s governors gather in Washington for their annual winter meeting, with Medicaid much on their minds. President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress want to repeal the 2010 health care law that expanded the program under former President Barack Obama.
Many congressional Republicans also want to rewrite the basic financial contract for Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program covering low-income and disabled people. Republicans are proposing to limit future federal funding in exchange for allowing states much more leeway to run their programs. The poll raises new questions about both ideas.
The survey found strong support across party lines for keeping the Medicaid expansion funding, with 69 per cent of Republicans saying lawmakers should continue to provide the money, along with 84 per cent of independents and 95 per cent of Democrats. Overall, 84 per cent of Americans said it’s important that any replacement for the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, continue to fund Medicaid expansion.