HealthDay News — According to a perspective piece published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a majority of primary care doctors oppose full repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
Researchers polled 426 internal medicine physicians, pediatricians, geriatricians and family doctors and found that only 15% agree with a complete dismantling of the health reform law.
About three-quarters of the doctors support changes to the law.
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Those changes include creating a public option like Medicare to compete with private plans, paying doctors for value rather than volume and increasing the use of health savings accounts. Only 29% of the doctors support increased use of high-deductible health plans.
The survey found strong support for parts of the Affordable Care Act: 95% of the doctors support rules prohibiting insurers from denying coverage or charging higher prices to people with pre-existing conditions; 88% support allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance plan until age 26; 91% support tax credits to small businesses that offer health insurance to employees; 75% support tax subsidies to individuals to buy insurance; 72% support Medicaid expansion; and 50% support tax penalties for people who don’t buy health insurance.
Among the doctors, no Democrats want complete repeal, compared with 32% of Republicans and nearly 38% of those who voted for Donald Trump.
Reference
Pollack CE, Armstrong K and Grande D. “A View From The Front Line — Physicians’ Perspectives On ACA Repeal”. New England Journal of Medicine. 2017. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1700144
