Doctors are divided over whether to keep the individual mandate that compels Americans to purchase health insurance. That’s according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Focusing on primary care physicians, the poll found that only 15.1 percent wanted to repeal Obamacare in its entirety—including 32.4 percent of Republican doctors and 37.9 percent of those who voted for Trump. But only 49.5 percent of all respondents favored the tax penalty for people who chose not to purchase insurance.
The mandate is one of the health law’s most important components. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll published in December, however, found that 63 percent of Americans disapproved of the mandate. And a 2015 study from the Commonwealth Fund noted that 52 percent of physicians had unfavorable views of the law in general.
Republicans, for their part, are figuring out how to repeal and replace Obamacare during their policy retreat this week. Several proposals currently exist, including Speaker Paul Ryan’s “A Better Way” plan, Sen. Rand Paul’s bill, the Republican Study Committee’s “American Health Care Reform Act,” and more. But most of them share a common goal of eliminating the individual mandate at the federal level.
Doctors’ suggestions for changing Obamacare, however, were more politically varied.
Most of them wanted to keep other provisions of the law. Such policies include: banning denials based on pre-existing conditions, allowing people to remain under their parents’ plan until age 26, and giving insurance-related tax credits and subsidies. 66.5 percent of physicians supported a public health insurance option as well.
Yet, 68.7 percent of doctors wanted more people to use Health Savings Accounts – an important part of many GOP replacement plans. Furthermore, 58.6 percent wanted tax credits that would allow Medicaid users to switch to private insurance. And only 47.4 percent of doctors supported a provision that would require state Medicaid expansion.
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