A poll conducted by the American Medical Association in "battleground" states indicates healthcare legislation currently under review in Congress faces considerable opposition among voters.
The AMA polled voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia and found no more than 26 percent of voters in any state supported the American Health Care Act, the House's bill to repeal and replace the ACA. The Senate version of the bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, contains a few key differences from the AHCA, but follows the same overall framework, particularly in regard to significant cuts to the Medicaid program.
These cuts are largely unpopular among the voters surveyed by the AMA. The majority of respondents in every state opposed the elimination or reduction of the ACA's Medicaid expansion. Support for reducing the Medicaid program ranged from 9 percent to 17 percent of voters across the seven states in the poll.
"Americans are not only overwhelmingly opposed to the current reform proposals, but they are opposed to many of the major provisions on which they are built. Both the Senate and House bills as currently drafted violate the important principle 'first, do no harm,'" AMA President David Barbe, MD, said in a statement. "It is clear that changes are needed to our health system and that a bipartisan approach is necessary to achieve those results. Americans agree that the proposals currently before Congress are a massive step in the wrong direction."
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