Since the landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as Obamacare, was enacted in 2010, many Congressional Republican members have vowed to repeal and replace the program. Under President Trump’s administration, Congress is now debating the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the House Republicans’ bill to “repeal and replace” the existing system.
According to a new poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Illinois voters are divided on whether or not to repeal and replace the existing health care system. The poll, conducted Saturday, March 4 through Saturday, March 11, 2017, asked whether respondents agreed to repeal and or replace the current health care system. The sample included 1,000 registered voters in Illinois with a margin for error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Sixty percent of the interviews were conducted on cell phones.
Overall, when asked the question “Do you think Congress should vote to repeal the 2010 health care law, or should they not vote to repeal it?,” responses were varied. Just over one-third of those asked supported repeal (35 percent), half were in favor of retaining the current ACA (50 percent), and 15 percent had no opinion. Within the 35 percent (N = 353) who supported a repeal, 29 percent wanted Congress to vote to repeal the legislation immediately, 68 percent supported repeal once an alternative was in place, and 3 percent either didn’t know or refused to answer.
Voters in Chicago were the most supportive (60 percent) of the ACA, with those in suburban Chicago and the Collar Counties the second most supportive (52 percent); and the lowest levels of support (39 percent) were in the Downstate areas of Illinois. Chicago residents were only 25 percent in support of repealing the law, while 34 percent of suburban residents and 44 percent of Downstate residents responded yes to repealing. The disparity was even more marked among those identifying with a specific political party. Only 13 percent of Democrats supported repealing the ACA; 31 percent of Independents and 66 percent of Republicans supported repeal.
“The ultimate future of Obamacare, while unpopular with many people, has dramatic implications for the state of Illinois, “said Linda Baker, university professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. “As a state that added more than 650,000 people to its Medicaid program through the ACA, if the Act is repealed and the state is expected to assume costs currently being borne by the federal government for those recipients, there will be enormous consequences for the state and for those who may lose coverage.”
The current health care reform debate is occurring at a time when Illinois legislators have the Herculean task of solving an increasing structural deficit in the midst of almost a two-year budget stalemate. With Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democrat leadership in the General Assembly at odds with how to deal with that deficit and ultimately enact a budget, respondents to the Paul Simon Institute survey were also asked how the budget stalemate was impacting their lives.
Respondents were also asked, “Have you or someone in your immediate family been affected by the Illinois budget stalemate” 33 percent said it had affected them, with 62 percent responding that it had not. Of those affected by the budget crisis, the largest groups of respondents argued that it had resulted in K-12 funding cuts, job loss and cuts to needed social services. Finally, the respondents were asked if families living in poverty are more or less affected by the impasse. Over half (56 percent) said families in poverty had been more impacted, with 22 percent saying that families in poverty had been impacted less and another 22 percent saying they did not know.
Realizing there is a divide in the nation’s ideology on poverty, manifested in the debate on affordable and accessible health care coverage, the Paul Simon Institute also asked the same 1,000 Illinois voters about their opinions on causes of poverty. When asked “Thinking about the causes of poverty in your area, please tell me one major reason that people are poor,” a plurality (41.4 percent) of respondents blamed the government. About one-fourth (23.3 percent) blamed social or cultural factors, and 16 percent viewed a lack of employment as the cause. The remaining respondents placed blamed on medical factors (10.4 percent), educational factors (2.5 percent), and other factors (6.3 percent).
Asking for a secondary cause of poverty, respondents cited, in descending order, employment, social/cultural, education, government, medical and other. About 27 percent of respondents indicated employment as the secondary cause of poverty; 15.1 percent social/cultural factors as the secondary factor; 13.2 percent as education or relative lack of it; 12.5 percent government; 7.1 percent medical issues; and 24.9 percent with some other secondary cause.
In both the initial and secondary questions, there were subcategories associated with the key causes. Under the cause of employment, job shortages and wage levels were the primary causes listed. There was no singularly significant factor mentioned in the social/cultural category, while in the education category, the poor quality of public schools was cited as the most significant factor.
The survey next asked respondents what types of government interventions would best alleviate poverty. Respondents offered a variety of answers, in the topical areas of employment, education, social services, and social/cultural. As with prior questions, each response had several subcategories. With respect to the area of employment, the most significant responses were in support of government intervention to create jobs/prevent outsourcing and to increase funding for jobs programs, at 8.8 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Under the heading of education, the two most significant responses were at 13.9 percent for increased funding for job training programs and 12.8 percent in favor of improving the quality of education.
The survey next asked if respondents would be willing to pay more in taxes for poverty alleviation measures. Slightly over 59 percent said they would be in support, with 35 percent opposed with 6% undecided.
- Honeybear - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:17 am:
How in Gods holy name is government responsible for poverty? I mean really honestly? How?
- Anonymous - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:28 am:
Not spending enough money on entitlements.
- Compromise requires two sides - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:29 am:
was there a true dislike of the ACA Ir was th dislike stirred up by the right to raise money?
- Rocky Rosi - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:31 am:
This is the government the good people of IL voted for.
- Cheryl44 - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:34 am:
If government fails in its duty to educate people that makes it at least partially responsible for those people to not be able to get or hold jobs.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:35 am:
“How in Gods holy name is government responsible for poverty? I mean really honestly? How?”
I don’t believe it is. When it comes to government assistance to the poor, government doesn’t go to people’s houses to force people to go on public assistance. People get public assistance for a variety of reasons, and many of those who get this assistance support those who want to take it away. I’ve heard resentment from some of these people that is loaded with racism.
Any statement claiming that government in America makes people lazy and compels them to get government assistance is often loaded with racism and classism, and is aimed at the political party who supports basic assistance.
Government assistance is often meager. I’d primarily look elsewhere to find and help solve poverty than placing too much blame on welfare programs.
- @MisterJayEm - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:40 am:
“How in Gods holy name is government responsible for poverty? I mean really honestly? How?”
They’ve adopted a simple dualistic cosmology in which ‘the government’ replaces ‘the devil’ as the source of all of life’s ills.
In 2017, a quarter of Americans would blame ‘the government’ for their shorts getting to tight.
– MrJM
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:52 am:
“If government fails in its duty to educate people that makes it at least partially responsible for those people to not be able to get or hold jobs.”
I agree. My previous comment was too narrowly focused. Sorry about that. It’s just that right as we speak, there is a vote coming today in the U.S. House that has tremendous implications for the role of government in healthcare and insurance.
- Robert the 1st - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:54 am:
=How in Gods holy name is government responsible for poverty?=
Over-regulation of business. Burdensome taxes on industry and employment. It’s an extreme example but think of the poverty in any communist country that has ever existed.
- Earnest - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 9:55 am:
>How in Gods holy name is government responsible for poverty? I mean really honestly? How?
My thoughts on that are a little contorted. I think that where the government comes up short is ensuring opportunity for success for all children. If a child is born to a bug-infested environment with leaded-water, or to a home environment without good nutrition or any kind of role models or learning/experiential opportunities, and goes to schools that lack resources, that child is not given a reasonable chance of success in life. That’s not to say a child can’t achieve that, but it’s hard to move beyond what you know and what you’ve been exposed to as “normal” in the world. Children who miss out in development in their first five years may never catch up regardless of what schools can do K-12. I do think the government owes it to children to give them a fair start in life. I don’t equate that to a lifetime of entitlements though.
- Puddintaine - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 10:20 am:
That would be half that it’s costing…. nothing?
- A State Employee Guy - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 10:49 am:
Stay tuned for a follow up report from the Art Garfunkel Institute which will undoubtedly be less popular and less critically acclaimed.
- BK Bro - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 10:57 am:
>How in Gods holy name is government responsible for poverty? I mean really honestly? How?
The question was overly broad. “The government” can mean a lot of different things. Specific policies like education, taxation, social welfare programs, etc. were not mentioned.
1) Government has largely failed or at best provided mediocre results in the area of education.
2) The “War on Poverty” has been generally unsuccessful in solving the problem it was created to solve.
3) War on Drugs has resulted in large amounts of incarcerations. At best, infractions that don’t have jail time but stay on your record for a significant period of time. Gainful employment becomes hard to find if you can find it at all.
4) States and other entities like school districts across the country (notably: Illinois) find themselves in a financial mess because they can’t budget properly. At times, voting to increase pension liabilities and other forms of spending but not increasing taxes to fund them properly. Not to mention pension and service costs were probably underfunded in the first place.
Just naming a few here.
- Ducky LaMoore - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 10:59 am:
===How in Gods holy name is government responsible for poverty? I mean really honestly? How?===
Huge barriers to entry for small business people, favorable tax treatment for entrenched interests/old money (and the poor too with the earned income credit), a welfare system that doesn’t reward people for their personal economic improvement (If you have a family of four making $20,000 a year, a raise that takes benefits away can actually cost you way more than not getting said raise). We’ve made being wealthy and being poor too easy from a governmental standpoint. And that is a policy failure that the government has created. But that’s just my opinion.
- Honeybear - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 11:05 am:
BK Bro by your logic should a minor revived leniency as an orphan because he murdered his parents? I do appreciate you responding but loving God it’s so rich I can’t even attempt to respond right now
- City Zen - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 11:28 am:
==half were in favor of retaining the current ACA==
I’m sure none of them were the young, healthy people footing the bill.
- Anonymous - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 11:30 am:
“For someone who advocates personal responsibility, you sure seems to blame government a lot.”
- thoughts matter - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 11:45 am:
City Zen-
Maybe they were your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles? You know, those older, unhealthy people who paid for everything you needed for 18 or 22+ years. Yet, you don’t feel any compassion towards them?
- Keyser Soze - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 12:00 pm:
It’s the government’s fault? Jeeze Louise. The quality of the responses may correlate nicely with the quality of the schools.
- City Zen - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 1:03 pm:
@thoughts matter - The folks that left me with $120 billion in pension liabilities? Remind me to bring up that compassion at Passover.
But by your comment, you obviously don’t have the problem with (insert someone else) footing the bill.
- Demoralized - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 1:23 pm:
The pensions are the pensions. No amount of whining will change that.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 4:04 pm:
Trump care was pulled today due to not having the votes. Everybody no doubt knows this already. The ACA lives on for now. What was bad for me was that they scheduled the vote for yesterday, the anniversary of Obama signing the bill. The legislators and their supporters who did that wanted to rub America’s first black president’s face in it. Sad!