Poll shows Ohioans favor keeping, tweaking Obamacare

By Mary Kuhlman
Ohio News Connection

As renewed efforts by Senate Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act ramp up, a newly released survey reveals how some Ohioans feel about the matter.

The Ohio Health Issues Poll asked respondents several questions about health care, including what they would like to see the U.S. Congress do when it comes to the Affordable Care Act.

Dr. O'dell Moreno Owens is president and CEO of Interact for Health, a foundation that sponsors the annual poll. He says more than 6 in 10 Ohio adults said they want to keep the Affordable Care Act and improve it.

"So that already told us right off the bat that it was a nonpartisan issue, that most people agree that it's not perfect, but to keep it, but to make changes," he states. "That's what the majority wants. Thirty-one percent said no, go ahead and repeal and replace it, and only 3 percent said just repeal and do nothing else."

Ninety-one percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 40 percent of Republicans said they support keeping and improving the ACA.

Legislation proposed by Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham would repeal Obamacare and replace its marketplace subsidies with block grants for states.

About 20 percent of poll respondents said they weren't sure if they have a generally favorable or unfavorable opinion about the health reform law, an increase from 7percent in 2014.

Owens says it goes to show that there is still a lot of confusion.

"There were people who were saying, 'Oh, I hate Obamacare, but I love the Affordable Care Act,'" he points out. "There were people who said they hate Obamacare and they want to keep the key ingredients: the pre-existing condition, being able to keep your kids on your insurance until they're 26, things like that."

If the Graham-Cassidy bill is passed in its current form, about 800,000 Ohioans would lose coverage over the next decade, according to the Center for American Progress.

Senate GOP leaders are trying to get a vote on the measure by Sept. 30, which is the deadline for bills that only need a simple majority to pass under budget reconciliation rules.