Majority of Americans support ACA subsidies

Two new polls show majority support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) including the health insurance tax subsidies now under review by the Supreme Court.

An Associated Press (AP) poll of 1,077 respondents taken April 23-27 showed that, while 60% of Americans are not closely following the tax subsidy challenge, 56% said that the Supreme Court’s ruling should allow subsidies to continue in states that are running their own health insurance exchanges. In the event of an adverse ruling, 51% said the law should be updated to allow states to offer subsidies.

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Respondents were about evenly split in their confidence that justices would rule based on objective interpretations of this provision of the law rather than personal opinions.

The poll also showed that healthcare remains an extremely important/very important point for 78% of Americans, up from 76% in March 2014.

In addition,

• 44% of respondents said they approve of the way President Barrack Obama is handling healthcare versus 38% last March;

• 61% of Americans either support or neither support nor oppose the healthcare law, compared to 56% last March, and

• Opposition to the law fell to 38% from 48% last March.

A new Reuters poll also shows majority support for the ACA: 60% of respondents who obtained insurance under Obamacare are generally satisfied with it, 73% of them Democrats and 53% Republicans.

As with the AP poll, most Americans were unaware of the upcoming King v. Burwell subsidy challenge. Results show 23% of respondents support a ruling abolishing the subsidies for state exchanges, while 43% oppose that move.

There as also widespread bipartisan support for keeping certain tenets of the law untouched, including the dependent-care component that allows children to stay on their parents policy until the age of 27.