RICHMOND, Va. — A new survey of likely voters in five states – Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia – shows solid majorities believe the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is here to stay (64 percent) and that Congress should work to improve the law (71 percent).
Moreover, in all five states, a large majority of voters support closing the health care coverage gap, created when the Supreme Court made expanding Medicaid optional under the ACA. In Virginia, nearly three-quarters of voters (74 percent) said Virginia should accept the federal funding set aside to close the coverage gap, an action that would make health care coverage available for up to 400,000 uninsured Virginians.
“This latest survey confirms what we continue to hear over and over across Virginia,” said Jill Hanken of the Virginia Poverty Law Center. “Voters understand that their fellow hardworking Virginians need the security of health coverage to get care when they need it, without facing huge medical bills or going into bankruptcy.”
A majority of states — 31 including the District of Columbia — have already taken advantage of the opportunity to close their coverage gaps and provide quality, affordable health insurance to their residents.
“We must move forward to lower health care costs for all Virginians,” said Hanken.
The survey was conducted by PerryUndem Research/Communication September 15-19, 2015; 1,005 adults who said they were likely to vote in the 2016 elections and have a history of voting in the 2012 or 2008 elections responded. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points. The results were released by Community Catalyst and Service Employee International Union (SEIU).
For more information, visit www.communitycatalyst.org.
About The HAV Coalition
Healthcare for All Virginians is a coalition of over 100 organizations working to help create and advocate for accessible and affordable quality health care for all Virginians. www.havcoalition.
