Healthcare

Poll: Top healthcare priority is drug prices, not ObamaCare

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High drug prices, not ObamaCare, are the public’s top healthcare priority, according to a new poll released Thursday.

{mosads}The poll from The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation finds that 74 percent of the public lists making sure high-cost drugs are affordable as a healthcare priority for the next President and Congress. 

Just 37 percent of respondents said repealing ObamaCare should be a top healthcare priority. 

ObamaCare has been thrust into prominence in the presidential campaign after the administration announced on Monday an average 25 percent premium increase for a benchmark plan on the law’s marketplaces. The Kaiser poll was conducted before that announcement, however.

The importance placed on drug pricing cuts across party lines: Eighty-four percent of Democrats, 73 percent of independents and 68 percent of Republicans make it a priority. 

Advocates hope that momentum is building for action next year, and both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump have put attention on the issue. 

The public remains divided on what to do about ObamaCare: Thirty-one percent want to expand it, 18 percent say move forward with it as it is, 9 percent want to scale it back, and 32 percent say repeal it entirely. 

Adding a government-run public option to compete with private insurers receives strong support. 

Seventy percent of the public either somewhat or strongly favors a public option, compared to just 23 percent who oppose it. 

But when the question emphasizes that the plan would be “government-administered,” support falls to 54 percent. 

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