If the voting public of America was making decisions about who gets to have health insurance instead of the Supreme Court, well, everybody would have health insurance. A new poll from Morning Consult, which conducts issues polling,
finds strong majorities supporting federal health insurance subsidies. Strong,
bipartisan support.
The poll, released Feb. 9, shows 63 percent of respondents favoring a plan to secure subsidized health insurance, should the court rule against subsides in King v. Burwell. The suit, filed last year, challenges the federal government’s ability to distribute subsidies to low-income Americans purchasing health insurance through Healthcare.gov, the federal exchange established by the Affordable Care Act.
Sixty-eight percent of respondents think Americans should have access to healthcare subsides, regardless of whether they come from a state or federal exchange. The poll also separated respondents by those who live in a state with their own exchange, versus a state using a federal exchange. Those living with state-based exchanges were more supportive of subsidies than those living in states with federal exchanges only by six percentage points.
Note that those living in states with federal exchanges are a lot more conservative, since those are primarily the Republican states which refused to have anything to do with Obamacare, including setting up an exchange. This polling is consistent with what a Kaiser Family Foundation
survey found last month.
The polls in tandem demonstrate the problem Republicans are going to have if the Supreme Court grants their fondest wish, and strikes down subsidies. We already know who stands to lose the most: Republican voters. Well, Republican voters and insurance companies. Those are two groups a Republican Congress is going to have a hard time blowing off.