As an end-of-year deadline looms for the U.S. Congress to decide whether to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a recent Gallup poll found that approval of the program is approaching record highs. The legislation, passed in 2010 and often referred to as “Obamacare,” was designed to expand health insurance coverage. Obamacare has always relied on subsidies to boost enrollment and ensure the program’s stability, but the most recent ones were enacted during the pandemic under the American Rescue Plan Act.
According to Gallup’s most recent survey, 57% of respondents generally approve of the program. This is up from a pandemic-era low of 48% in 2021 and an all-time low of 37% in 2014.
Those who approve, however, are split on what the future of the ACA should be, with 45% saying it should, for the most part, stay the same and 49% saying it should remain, but only with significant changes.
There are wide partisan gaps in support for the program, with 91% of Democrats, 63% of Independents, and only 15% of Republicans supporting the ACA.
About a quarter (24%) of respondents who disapprove of the ACA believe it should remain in place, but only with significant changes. Most of those who disapprove of the program (72%) want it scrapped altogether in favor of something else.
In a related but separate Gallup survey, nearly three-quarters (73%) of all U.S. adults believe the federal government should fund hospitals to cover the medical expenses of those without insurance. However, when the question was expanded to include all patients, including those in the U.S. without documentation, only a third (33%) agreed.
More information on both Gallup surveys can be found here.
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