Americans mixed on potential Trump healthcare priorities: KFF poll

Dive Transient:

Medicare, Medicaid and the Reasonably priced Care Act are well-liked with a big swath of Individuals, doubtlessly establishing a public opinion conflict if the Trump administration makes cuts or adjustments to the federal government well being packages, in keeping with a ballot revealed final week by KFF.
About half of survey respondents stated the nation wasn’t spending sufficient on Medicare and Medicaid, in keeping with the well being coverage analysis agency. And, although views on the way forward for the ACA are divided on partisan traces, most Individuals are nervous in regards to the degree of advantages on market plans.
In the meantime, Republican lawmakers have signaled Medicaid may very well be on the chopping block as the brand new administration seems to chop authorities spending. Moreover, President Donald Trump reversed a Biden-era government order this week that aimed to spice up enrollment and funding for ACA exchanges. 

Dive Perception:

The American public is sending some blended messages on how they prioritize potential healthcare insurance policies related to the Trump administration, in keeping with the KFF ballot, which surveyed greater than 1,300 folks earlier this month.

Ballot respondents had been divided on insurance policies relating to processed meals and vaccines. Trump’s decide for HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has beforehand advocated for banning sure processed meals and has promoted conspiracy theories in regards to the security of vaccines. 

Almost 60% of respondents stated setting stricter limits on chemical compounds within the nation’s meals provides must be a prime focus for Congress and the brand new administration.

However the public is much less considering different potential insurance policies. Lower than one in eight respondents — and fewer than 1 / 4 of Republicans — stated it must be a prime precedence to scale back federal funding to colleges that require vaccinations. 

Different coverage areas are even much less clear. For instance, 23% of survey respondents stated the administration ought to prioritize recommending towards fluoride in native water provides, whereas the identical proportion argued that shouldn’t be carried out. Kennedy has additionally pushed for eradicating fluoride, a mineral that may forestall tooth decay, from water.

In distinction, prime priorities for ballot respondents embody extra carefully regulating insurance coverage approvals and denials, a problem that turned a flashpoint on-line after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.

Moreover, greater than 60% stated boosting healthcare value transparency must be a prime precedence. Laws that required hospitals to put up details about their costs had been handed beneath the primary Trump administration, in an try to assist sufferers discover extra inexpensive healthcare providers.

Nevertheless, many services nonetheless aren’t totally complying with the foundations, which first went into impact in 2021, in keeping with a report revealed in November by the HHS’ Workplace of Inspector Common.

Respondents had been divided amongst partisan traces on the way forward for the ACA.

For instance, whereas almost two-thirds stated they view the ACA favorably, polled Republicans and Democrats have totally different views of the decade-old legislation. 4 in ten Republican respondents stated repealing the ACA must be a prime precedence, whereas half of Democrats stated the administration ought to give attention to extending enhanced subsidies for change plans, that are set to run out on the finish of 2025.

The extra beneficiant subsidies shall be a big coverage query for Congress this 12 months. Some Republican lawmakers have argued the improved monetary help is just too costly and creates alternatives for fraud. Nevertheless, there may very well be political penalties for letting the subsidies expire, given premium prices may enhance for constituents — together with people who dwell in Republican districts, consultants say.