The gold standard in health policy polling is Kaiser Family Foundation's monthly health tracking survey, and the news they have this month is not good for Paul Ryan and popular vote loser Donald Trump. Not at all. But it's great news for Planned Parenthood, because a huge majority of voters supports it and wants it to continue to get Medicaid funds.
- The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll examines the public’s early attitudes towards the House Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act and finds that more expect the new plan will make things worse rather than better when it comes to the number of people with coverage and costs for those buying insurance on their own. Republicans are more optimistic, with nearly half expecting the plan to decrease costs and one-third saying it will increase the number of people covered.
- More expect the law to increase rather than decrease costs in the individual insurance market for various groups, including younger and older people, those living in urban and rural areas, and those with lower incomes. The public is more divided on whether costs will increase or decrease for higher-income people who buy their own insurance.
- Three-quarters of the public support continuing current federal Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood to pay for non-abortion services received by people on Medicaid, while 22 percent support cutting off all federal funding to the group. Majorities of both Republican women and Republican men support continuing current funding.
The actual numbers: 48 percent say Trumpcare will decrease the number of people who have health insurance, opposed to 18 percent who say number of insured people will increase and 48 percent also say Trumpcare will increase premium costs, opposed to 23 percent who say it will decrease them. On the whole, they’re pretty down on Trumpcare.
TrumpCare is a travesty: It cuts taxes for the rich, kills Medicaid expansion for the poor and defunds Planned Parenthood. We can defeat it in the Senate, if you call the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and contact your senators.
What they are overwhelmingly in support of? Planned Parenthood, to the tune of 75 percent saying is should continue to get federal Medicaid funds. Republicans say so, too: “While there are partisan and gender differences on this question, majorities across groups, including just over half of Republican men (55 percent) and Republican women (57 percent) say that the federal government should continue to pay Planned Parenthood for non-abortion services received by people on Medicaid.”
That makes Planned Parenthood way more popular than anybody in government. Some Republican senators should be pondering that very carefully right about now.