Survey Says Majority Of Voters Want Some Or All Of Health Law Repealed

The Washington Post: "A new Kaiser Family Foundation post-election poll suggests that a majority of people who voted on Nov. 2 favor repealing some or all of the health-care legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Obama earlier this year. ... Political strategists continue to debate just how much of an impact healthcare had on the 2010 midterms. Republicans insist that health-care was a central piece of their successful argument that change was needed in Washington. ... Both sides will likely see data points in the Kaiser survey that affirm their view. Asked to name what influenced their vote, voters listed health-care fourth (17 percent) behind the economy (29 percent), party preference (25 percent) and the views of the candidates themselves (21 percent)" (Cillizza, 11/9).

Kaiser Health News: "Economy/jobs was the leading item, mentioned by 29 percent of voters as one of the top two factors influencing their choice. Political party affiliation and the candidates' attributes also ranked ahead of health care, according to the telephone poll of 1,502 adults conducted Nov. 3-6. About two-thirds of them said they voted. ... Republicans were more likely than Democrats to mention health care as a factor for their vote-21 percent vs. 13 percent for Democrats" (Galewitz, 11/9). KHN is a program of the foundation.

NPR's Shots blog: "Put together health overhaul, Medicare and health care generally, and the whole ball of wax ranked as a top issue with 17 percent of voters. That's about in line with exit polls that found 17 percent of voters ranked health care as the top election issue. ... So where do the elected officials go from here on health overhaul? The Kaiser poll results give mixed signals. Some 19 percent of people say the law is fine and leave it along. One-quarter want some of it repealed, and nearly the same proportion want the whole law undone" (Hensley, 11/9).

CQ HealthBeat: "Voters said their most common emotion about the health care law is confusion ... When asked about six specific provisions of the legislation, more than 70 percent of voters said they wanted to keep four of the provisions: tax credits for small businesses, assistance to help seniors pay for prescription drugs, subsidies to low- and moderate-income people to help them buy insurance, and a ban prohibiting insurers from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions. However, support was lower for a provision to pay for the plan and for a requirement for most Americans to buy insurance or pay penalties. About 54 percent wanted to keep an increase in the payroll tax for higher-income taxpayers, and only 27 percent wanted to keep the individual mandate" (Adams, 11/9).