This month’s Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, conducted during the four days following the mid-term election, asked voters in an open-ended question to name in their own words the biggest factors influencing their vote for Congress, and found that health care was a factor, but not a dominant one. Among all voters, the factor mentioned most often was the economy/jobs (29%). The next two most mentioned factors were party preference (25%) and views of the candidates themselves (21%). Health care was the fourth most mentioned factor at 17 percent.
The general public remains split about what lawmakers should do with the health reform law, with 21 percent wanting to see lawmakers expand the law, 19 percent wanting to leave the law as is, a quarter wanting to repeal parts of the law, and nearly a quarter (24%) wanting to see the entire law repealed. However, among those who support repeal of all or parts of the law, a majority want to keep key provisions tested in the poll, except the individual mandate and the Medicare payroll tax increase. Solid majorities of supporters of repeal would like to keep tax credits for small businesses offering coverage (68%), the prohibition on insurance companies from denying coverage based on medical history or health condition (62%), the gradual closing of the Medicare prescription drug “doughnut hole” (60%), and financial subsidies to low and moderate income Americans to help purchase coverage (55%).
