(The Hill) — A majority of Americans want Congress to extend subsidies on ObamaCare before they are set to expire at the end of the year, a new survey from the health nonprofit KFF released Thursday says.
Of those enrolled in ObamaCare marketplace plans, KFF found that 84 percent want Congress to extend the credits. These subsidies allow Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollees to pay less than the full price of their health insurance premiums, which would balloon if the tax credits expire.
If Congress does not act and allows the subsidies to expire, blame would largely be aimed at President Trump at 41 percent and congressional Republicans at 35 percent.
Enrollees are not confident that Trump or GOP members, at 66 and 67 percent, respectively, will address health care costs.
Without these tax credits, almost six out of 10 ACA enrollees say it will be “somewhat” or “very” difficult to afford out-of-pocket costs.
About 6 in 10 ObamaCare enrollees find it “somewhat” or “very” difficult to afford out-of-pocket costs for medical care, such as deductibles and copays. That exceeds the roughly half of enrollees who find it challenging to afford health insurance premiums. Most enrollees also said they could not afford a $300 per year increase in their health insurance costs without significantly disrupting their household finances.
What happens with ObamaCare subsidies by the end of 2025 could impact the 2026 midterm elections, KFF found. Fifty-four percent said that a possible $1,000-increase would have a “major impact” on their decision to vote in 2026.
If enrollees see their health care expenses grow by $1,000, 37 percent said Trump deserves most of the blame, followed by 33 percent who said the same about congressional Republicans and 29 percent would blame congressional Democrats.
“These are often going to be people who are living paycheck to paycheck, who have volatile or unpredictable incomes as well,” KFF vice president and director of the Program on the ACA Cynthia Cox told The Associated Press. “Increases that many of them are facing are going to be some sort of financial hardship for them.”
Congressional Democrats had made extending ObamaCare subsidies their key demand prior to the 43-day government shutdown this fall.
But enough Senate Democrats eventually sided with Republicans to pass a spending package to reopen the government without any compromise on the expiring subsidies.
In the weeks since, Senate Republicans have grown frustrated over their lack of a unified health care plan as an ObamaCare alternative.
“I don’t think that we have coalesced as a conference around a plan, so no, I’m not satisfied,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said on Wednesday. “I’m hoping that we actually have something we can get 60 [votes] for.”
The KFF survey was conducted Nov. 7-15 and included 1,350 respondents. The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points.