A majority of Americans are concerned that many will lose health care coverage if the Affordable Care Act is repealed and few want to see it stricken from the books immediately, according to a poll published Friday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Some 56 percent of U.S. adults say that they are “extremely” or “very” worried that many Americans will lose health insurance if the law is repealed. Only 16 percent of respondents want the healthcare legislation repealed immediately, while 31 percent said Congress and President Donald Trump should have a replacement plan prepared before eliminating it.
Americans are fairly evenly split on keeping the law, with 53 percent saying it should be kept and 46 percent calling for its repeal. Most think improvements need to be made, with only 12 percent of poll respondents saying the health care law should be left in its current state.
Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration have yet to put forth a replacement plan for Obamacare, though they have promised that any alternative would include some of the law’s most popular requirements, like ensuring that those with pre-existing conditions can receive coverage and that young adults can remain on their parents’ insurance until age 26.
The last two conditions were listed by the AP-NORC Center respondents as two of the provisions they most want to see in a new health care law.
“Many elements of the health care law are popular, and the majority of Americans want to retain them in any replacement law Congress might pass,” according to the AP-NORC Center.
The survey was conducted among 1,036 adults via telephone between Jan. 12-16, 2017.
