As Congress Republicans weigh large cuts in Medicaid, most voters do not want to see the funding of the Public Health Plan, according to a poll released Friday by KFF, a non -profit health research company.
Only 17 % of respondents said they supported cuts in Medicaid, the government’s health insurance plan covering over 70 million people. Forty percent said they wanted to continue spending unchanged and 42 % said they would like to increase.
But at the same time, the poll has found significant support for some policies that would limit the program, such as the requirement of the registered. More than 60 % of voters – and 47 % of Democrats – supported a job requirement, according to the poll.
This change, supported by some Republicans of Congress, is estimated to reduce about $ 100 billion from Medicaid, as those who were unemployed – or could not deposit the papers showing that they had a job – would no longer be covered. The cost of the program was $ 584 billion in 2024, or about 8 % of total federal spending.
The poll also showed the broad range of Medicaid, with a little more than half of the respondents saying that either they or a family member had a Medicaid coverage. There was almost a universal agreement that Medicaid was important to local voter communities, with 98 percent of the Democrats and 94 percent of Republicans, saying they thought it was somewhat or very important.
Republicans in Congress are considering many changes to Medicaid as they are looking for ways to pay for President Trump’s tax cuts. Last month, the House voted for a budget that, if approved by the Senate, and signed by the president, could limit up to $ 880 billion from the program over the next decade. This could be the case with labor requirements, the ceilings for federal spending on the program or the reduction of the cost of the costs paid by the federal government.
Although poll respondents were generally in favor of working requirements, they had misunderstandings about politics: sixty -two percent of voters believed that most registered Medicaid are unemployed, when the overwhelming majority had jobs.
Republican voters have also expressed an opening in reducing funding for the expansion of Medicaid Act Affordable Care. At the moment, the federal government pays 90 % of the cost for expansion participants, who tend to be healthy adults. This is a higher share than it covers for other registered, such as children or people with disabilities.
Sixty-four percent of Republican voters-and 40 % of voters in total-said they would support the reduction of the federal government’s contribution to the expansion of Medicaid. Republicans of the body continue to weigh this choice, even though speaker Mike Johnson said last week that it was not on the table.
Voters’ views on the reduction in the funding of Medicaid expansion have appeared to be supplemented, however, in view of additional information.
When respondents received more information on policy, including the fact that millions could lose cover, democratic support was reduced to 43 %. But saying that the change would reduce federal spending by about $ 600 billion increased support to 73 %.
The poll looks like what the Americans felt during the affordable care debate to abolish the debate in 2017, when Republicans failed to reinstate the law to a large extent due to the political opposition to Medicaid cuts. At that time, 70 % of voters supported work requirements and 36 % favored the funding of Medicaid expansion.
“Medicaid is a very popular program between a wide range of public, including Republicans,” said Mollyann Brodie, executive director of KFF’s research.
But, he added, “opinions could move quickly in the context of the discussion where people learn more information and feel that their coverage is threatened.”
