Support for Our Current Health Care System Has Never Been Higher

WASHINGTON – New polling shows more Americans than ever favor our current health care system.

Americans’ Support for Our Current System is at a Record-High of 58 percent

• As of October 2021, the favorability rate for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) stands at 58 percent – the highest favorability rate since the ACA became current law. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 10/15/21)

Americans Prefer Building on What’s Working in Health Care

• In addition to rating our current system favorably, most Americans prefer building on our current system instead of implementing costly proposals like the public option or Medicare at 60:
  • The August 2021 edition of Voter Vitals – a nationwide tracking poll conducted by Locust Street Group for the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future – showed that 64 percent of Americans prefer building on what’s working rather than creating a public option. (Voter Vitals, 8/21)
  • 67 percent of Americans also prefer building on our current system instead of opening up Medicare to younger Americans. (Voter Vitals, 8/21)

Enhancements to Our Current System are Helping Millions of Americans Get the Coverage They Need

• An analysis from Kaiser Family Foundation shows richer subsidies are available to Americans during the 2022 open enrollment period, as a result of building on our current system. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 10/28/21)

• In 2021, increased subsidies to our current system made zero-cost premium plans available to 13.3 million Americans. (NPR, 8/3/21)

• There are now 12.2 million Americans enrolled in the federal and state marketplaces. (HHS, 9/15/21)

More Americans than ever are relying on our current system for access to the affordable, high-quality health care coverage they need. As the opportunity for Americans to look for coverage on the exchanges continues, lawmakers should focus on building on what’s working in health care to expand access to health care coverage.