Take The Poll: Should Trump Repeal Obamacare? Health Care Law May Not Survive Next Four Years — What’s Your Opinion?

Should Donald Trump, when he becomes president, act to repeal Obamacare, the 2010 health care law that the Republican-controlled Congress has already voted to repeal 60 times? Trump made the promise to repeal the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act — the official name of the law called “Obamacare” — a central theme of his presidential campaign.

Should he keep his promise? Or should he push to repeal some parts of the Obamacare law but keep others in place? Inquisitr readers can make their opinion known by clicking on your preferred answer in the poll below.

https://www.playbuzz.com/inquisitr/should-trump-repeal-obamacare

What exactly does Obamacare do? There are widespread misconceptions about the six-year-old health care law, and even though approximately 20 million people who previously did not have health insurance are now covered, the law remains unpopular with the American public.

According to an average of polls on Obamacare compiled by the site Real Clear Politics, 48.8 percent of Americans oppose the health care law, while only 39.2 percent support it, a difference on the unfavorable side of 9.6 percentage points.

The key accomplishment of Obamacare has been to drive the percentage of Americans without health insurance to a new low of 8.6 percent. In 2009, before passage of the law, 15.7 percent of the American population went without health coverage of any kind.

Under another key provision of Obamacare, patients with pre-existing conditions — that is, chronic illnesses or injuries — may not be denied health coverage by insurance companies. Previously, insurance providers regularly turned down customers who already had conditions that would need coverage.

Trump says that he wants to keep the “pre-existing conditions” provision of Obamacare.

“I would absolutely get rid of ObamaCare. I want to keep pre-existing conditions. It’s a modern age, and I think we have to have it,” Trump said, while still a candidate for president. “Insurance companies take care of the politicians. The insurance companies are making an absolute fortune. Yes, they will keep pre-existing conditions, and that would be a great thing.”

But is repealing Obamacare yet keeping the pre-existing conditions part of the law — sometimes called “guaranteed issue” — even possible? Critics say that there’s no way to do both.

“Republicans should reject the pressure to keep it if they want their replacement plan to work better and cost less. That’s because guaranteed issue incentivizes people to wait until an insurable event has occurred — in this case an expensive medical condition or accident — and then get coverage,” wrote Forbes Magazine contributor Merrill Matthews. “Imagine if an uninsured driver could have an auto accident and then call an auto insurer to get coverage for that accident. The pool of insured drivers would be very small — only those who just had an accident — and coverage very expensive.”

The health insurance industry itself could be crippled by the repeal of Obamacare, experts say. Major health insurance providers have restructured their business models to capitalize on the financial incentives in the form of government subsidies offered under Obamacare. Removing those subsidies would leave the health insurance industry in shambles, CNN Money reported on Tuesday.

Trump has, in fact, proposed his own plan to replace Obamacare assuming that the law is indeed repealed. The key provisions of “Trumpcare” include allowing health insurers to sell insurance across state lines, where currently each insurance provider must be licensed by each state where it sells coverage, and allowing individuals to deduct the cost of health insurance premiums from their taxes.

But Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has his own plan for what would come next after a repeal of Obamacare. With Ryan controlling the House of Representatives, his plan — which allows health insurance companies to compete for business while providing tax credits to individuals looking too buy coverage — appears more likely to be the one that becomes reality.

Both the Trump plan and the Ryan plan would eliminate the “individual mandate,” the requirement under Obamacare that Americans purchase health insurance or pay a fine each year that they do not buy coverage.

What do you think? Should Obamacare be repealed, partially or completely? Or should the law remain in place? Make your opinion heard by taking the poll above on this page.

[Featured Image By Ty Wright/Getty Images]