Public Support for Extending the Enhanced ACA Tax Credits Reflects Broader Concerns About Health Care Affordability
The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits have taken center stage this week as lawmakers debate extending these benefits as part of the negotiations about the federal budget. At a time when so much about our country’s health care system, and really most issues in this country, is viewed through a partisan lens, one of the more striking findings from the most recent KFF Health Tracking Poll was the bipartisan support for Congress extending these tax credits for people who buy their own coverage. But perhaps it isn’t surprising when you think about these tax credits less as an extension of President Obama’s landmark 2010 health reform law and more through the lens of health care costs.
Views of the 2010 ACA are still largely partisan with large majorities of Democrats continuing to view the law favorably while two-thirds of Republicans hold unfavorable views of the legislation. Yet, at the same time, majorities of Democrats (92%) and Republicans (59%) think Congress should extend these expiring tax credits. This includes a majority of the most ardent base of Republican lawmakers – supporters of the MAGA movement, 57% of whom say they want to see the tax credits extended. For some, these two polling results might seem to contradict each other. Why would Republicans support a key component of how the ACA has expanded it’s reach in recent years? It may have to do with the fact that the thought of your health insurance premiums doubling is distressing, regardless of your party identification. We saw this play out with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene this week. Rep. Greene is an ardent opponent of the ACA but even she spoke out against the increasing cost of ACA premiums. Just under half of adults in the U.S. say it is difficult to afford their health care costs including about four in ten Republicans (41%) and Democrats (36%). In addition, the cost of health care frequently tops the list of things the public worries about affording with six in ten (62%) adults say they are either “very” or “somewhat” worried about being able to afford their health care. As Drew Altman pointed out, the impact of the loss of these enhanced tax credits will be especially hard for people living in red states without Medicaid expansion. And while most people wouldn’t be directly affected by the expiration of the enhanced ACA tax credits, even people who aren’t directly affected may have family members or friends who are, as Rep. Greene’s comments illustrate. Furthermore, the debate over extending these enhanced tax credits can be seen as a proxy for the broader public’s concerns about health care affordability which may be why the public is largely in favor of extending these subsidies – even as overall views of the ACA are still very polarized.