Elections

With the 2018 midterm elections still about ten months away, the January Kaiser Health Tracking poll examines what issues voters most want 2018 midterm candidates to talk about during their upcoming campaigns. Health care is at the top of a group of issues but health care is less important to Republicans and among voters in battleground states. While Congress is currently debating a budget to keep the government funded beyond February 8, 2018, the poll also examines the public’s priorities for President Trump and Congress and measures support for reducing federal funding for government programs.

Only One in Three Know the Tax Reform Law Repeals the ACA’s Unpopular Individual Mandate Health care and the economy and jobs top voters’ list as “the most important issue” for Congressional candidates to talk about ahead of November’s midterm elections, but the lineup shifts among voters in states and…

This Drew Altman column for Axios discusses how health care being ranked as a high priority, and as the number one issue in a recent national poll, doesn’t mean it will be a major factor in this November’s elections.

In this Axios column, Drew Altman examines the role of health care in Virginia’s elections and the referendum on Medicaid expansion in Maine. His assessment: the elections and the referendum will have a bigger impact on upcoming policy debates about cutting Medicaid to pay for tax cuts, and state interest in Medicaid expansion, than on upcoming elections. 

In this Axios column, Drew Altman critically examines the conventional wisdom that the Trump and Republican base will punish Republicans if they do not repeal Obamacare.

In this Axios column, Drew Altman lays out how the “political pain” from the American Health Care Act would play out over the next two election cycles if passed in its current form, based on the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the House-passed bill.

In a New York Times op-ed, Drew Altman draws on observations from focus groups in rust belt states of people in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces who voted for President-elect Trump and say they may not like their coverage under the ACA but could like Republican replacement plans even less.

In this Wall Street Journal Think Tank column Drew Altman discusses how Republicans will assume ownership of health care’s policy and political problems as they assume control, and how that may affect their plans for the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and Medicare.

Among Those Who Favor Repeal, Arguments About Loss of Coverage for Those with Pre-Existing Conditions Can Sway Some Opinions Many Obamacare Provisions Remain Broadly Popular Across Party Lines, But Not its Mandate The first Kaiser Health Tracking Poll since the 2016 election finds that Americans are largely divided on the…

The November Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, conducted one week after the 2016 presidential election, finds health care played a limited role in voters’ 2016 election decisions. While President-elect Trump and Republican lawmakers have made it clear that one of their top priorities is the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the survey finds Americans are divided on what they want to see lawmakers do to the health care law. This survey also finds that many of the law’s major provisions continue to be popular, even across party lines.