After failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act with a Republican-controlled Congress, the Trump administration is seizing on a different strategy for dismantling the law, one fraught with political risk. It is asking a court to throw out major elements, including hugely popular provisions that protect sick people from being denied health insurance or charged higher rates. …
Recent polling has found that health care is a crucial issue for voters this year. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released this week, 22 percent of respondents said it would be the most important factor in deciding their vote, ahead of the economy, guns, taxes and immigration.
In the past, polls have found that both Republicans and Democrats favor protecting coverage for the tens of millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions. A December 2016 poll by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that 75 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans approved of the law’s provision prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on a person’s health status or medical history. Even President Trump called it one of the law’s “strongest assets” during an interview with “60 Minutes” shortly after he won the election. CONT.
Abby Goodnough, Robert Pear & Charlie Savage, New York Times
Recent polls: Health care