Public opposition to Senate health bill increases : Kaiser Family Foundation poll

Demonstrators protest changes to the Affordable Care Act on June 28, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by AFP)

A new poll has found that public opposition to Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare grew slightly larger in the past month.

The Kaiser Family Foundation poll released on Friday also suggested that sixty-one percent of Americans hold unfavorable views of the plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This value was an increase from the 55 percent who held negative views in June.

According to Kaiser, 44 percent of the people polled hold “very unfavorable” views of the plan, showing an increase from 38 percent in June.

However, a majority of self-identified US President Donald Trump’s supporters and Republicans said they have favorable views of the replacement plan.

On Thursday the Senate released an updated version of the legislation, and plan to hold a key procedural vote next week.

The Republican bill is aimed at fulfilling Trump's pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, the signature health insurance achievement of former President Barack Obama. Obamacare covers some 20 million Americans.

If approved, the Trump administration’s healthcare bill would repeal most of the taxes paid for Obamacare.

The bill faces an uncertain passage in the Senate, where Republicans have a very narrow majority. Two senators have already opposed the new version of the bill.

Meanwhile, support for Obamacare continues to hold steady. The poll found that half of the respondents hold a favorable view of the law, while 44 percent hold an unfavorable view.

The numbers have largely been stable over the past few months, meaning the law continues to be more popular than Congress’ plan to replace it.

Yet, according to the poll most Americans said they would prefer Republicans and Democrats to work together on healthcare. Meanwhile, 71 percent said they would like to see a bipartisan effort to fix the ACA.

The poll was conducted among 1,187 adults from July 5 to July 10 within a week after the Congressional Budget Office on the GOP draft legislation.