Rasmussen Poll: Public Doesn't Have Confidence in AHCA

More people say the Republican plan to replace Obamacare will both cause the cost of healthcare to go up and not down and the quality of care will get worse rather than better, according to a Rasmussen poll released Monday.

However, the pessimism expressed by the public in the GOP plan is not as bad as the negative reactions to Obamacare.

Other details of the poll include:

• 41 percent of all likely voters believe the cost of healthcare will go up under the Republican plan to replace Obamacare, while only 29 percent say costs will go down.
• 19 percent expect costs to stay about the same, while 11 percent are undecided.
• Obamacare, however, usually had an even more pessimistic rating, with 59 percent saying in August, for example, it would drive up healthcare costs, while only 9 percent said Obamacare would make costs decrease.
• 31 percent say the proposed GOP changes in the healthcare law will improve the quality of care, while 38 percent say it will make that care worse.
• 22 percent say the level of quality will stay about the same. 

These pessimistic numbers were still generally better than the belief showed in Obamacare, as surveys over the past seven years indicated as many as 55 percent thought President Barack Obama's healthcare law would worsen the quality of care.

Regarding the question of the healthcare plan's impact on the economy, 39 percent said it would likely be good for the economy, while 38 percent said the plan will harm it. Twelve percent said the changes will have no impact on the economy, while 11 percent aren't sure.

Republicans and Democrats hold diametrically opposed views on all these questions. As illustrative of this, 54 percent of GOP voters says the new healthcare plan will improve the quality of care, while 56 percent of Democrats say the changes will hurt the quality of care. Similarly, 66 percent of Republicans say the plan will be good for the economy, while 61 percent of Democrats say it will be bad for the economy. 

Thirty-six percent of those surveyed say they have postponed medical checkups or procedures to save money in the past six months, while 21 percent have not filled a recent prescription because the cost was too high.

The survey of 1,000 likely U.S. voters was conducted March 8-9. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence. 

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