Six in Ten Support the Alexander-Murray Healthcare Fixes

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new in-depth survey presented the three key provisions of the Alexander Murray bill, that addresses issues with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), to a sample of 2,511 registered voters and had them evaluate arguments for and against each provision.  In the end, all three proposals were endorsed by about six in ten voters. These include allowing Americans age 30 and up to have low cost, high deductible 'copper plans,' and reversing the Trump administration cuts for health-care cost subsidies for low-income people, and cuts for outreach and education for the ACA exchanges.

The survey of 2,511 registered voters was conducted by the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland (PPC), fielded by Nielsen Scarborough, and released today by the nonpartisan organization, Voice of the People.

The bill's lead sponsors are Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democrat Patty Murray of Washington.

One of the most controversial aspects of the ACA is that Americans age 30 and up cannot have what are called 'copper plans,' which have lower premiums, but require patients to pay nearly all of the medical costs until they meet the high deductible of $7,150. The proposal in the Alexander-Murray bill is to allow older people to have such low-cost plans as well.

Asked for their final recommendation, 60% favored making copper plans available in the ACA exchanges to anyone seeking individual insurance, including people age 30 and older. This included 54% of Democrats, as well as 68% of Republicans. 

The second part of the proposed bill restores subsidies that were ended by the Trump administration that help cover health care costs for low-income people. These subsidies ensure that a person with an income of less than $30,000 does not have to pay more than $2,250 for out-of-pocket expenses in a particular year for things like covering deductibles and co-pays. These subsidies have been paid directly to the insurance companies to reimburse them for covering the out-of-pocket costs of low-income people.  

For their final recommendation, 58% favored restoring the subsidies that go to insurance companies to reimburse them for covering the out of pocket costs of low income people, including 84% of Democrats but just 29% of Republicans.

Another key proposal in the bill is to restore funding for services that help familiarize people with the ACA's insurance exchanges, including advertising, education, training "navigators" to help people find their way to a health plan, and notifying people if there is a problem with their coverage. The Trump administration reduced funding for outreach by over 70 percent.  

Fifty-eight percent favored restoring spending on outreach and education for the ACA's insurance exchanges, including 85% of Democrats, but only 29% of Republicans. 

The Program for Public Consultation, at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, seeks to improve democratic governance by consulting the citizenry on key public policy issues governments face.  Voice of the People is a nonpartisan organization that seeks to re-anchor our democracy in its founding principles by giving 'We the People' a greater role in government. Neither organization takes a position on the policy issues it explores.

• Survey Questionnaire: http://www.publicconsultation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Alexander_Murray_Quaire.pdf
• Slide Presentation: http://www.publicconsultation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Alexander_Murray_Slides.pdf
• Take the survey: http://bit.ly/2EoP8o8

The survey was conducted online from December 6-13, 2017 with a national probability-based sample of 2,511 registered voters, provided by Nielsen Scarborough from Nielsen Scarborough's sample of respondents, who were recruited by mail and telephone using a random sample of households. The margin of error was +/- 2.0%.

Contact: Steven Kull
202-232-7500, [email protected] 

SOURCE Program for Public Consultation