Nearly seven years after former President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, a CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday found that 84 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the total cost of healthcare in the country.
That actually marks an increase in dissatisfaction since before the bill was signed when CNN found that 77 percent of Americans were dissatisfied with the total cost of healthcare in March of 2009.
Only 23 percent of respondents said Congress should handle Obamacare by abandoning plans to repeal it and leave the legislation “as is.”
Support for Congress “[removing] the requirement that individuals obtain health insurance coverage or pay a penalty” as part of Obamacare repeal was split with 48 percent favoring and 50 percent opposing, a difference that falls within the poll’s margin of error of 3 percentage points.
The poll was released the morning after House Republicans unveiled their plan for Obamacare repeal, legislation that eliminates the individual mandate, but maintains protections for people with pre-existing conditions, a provision supported by 87 percent of respondents.
Sixty-one percent opposed Congress “[curbing] federal funding for Medicaid, including eliminating Obamacare funding which expanded the program to low-income adults.” The GOP plan restructures Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, leaving many to predict a loss in coverage for beneficiaries of that expansion.
In his remarks at the signing of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Obama claimed the law “[marked] a new season in America.” He told Americans that the bill would “lower costs for families and for businesses.”
Seven years later, CNN’s poll found less than half of Americans are in favor of that legislation (46 percent), and more are dissatisfied with the total cost of healthcare, a problem the Affordable Care Act aimed to solve.
In March of 2009, CNN found 23 percent of Americans were satisfied with the total cost of healthcare in America. Now, after seven years of lofty rhetoric from Democrats touting the success of the legislation, satisfaction has dropped to only 14 percent.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
