Pollster: Mass. needs to prepare for Obamacare repeal
Massachusetts would be well-served to begin devising a plan of action to deal with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, a promise of President-elect Donald Trump, a Harvard professor and pollster said Tuesday.
Robert Blendon, director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program, said that while only 11 percent of voters said health care was the most important issue in the presidential campaign, an overwhelming percentage of Trump voters said they want to get rid of the ACA.
"A share of Mr. Trump's voters do not agree with him on everything, but this is really important to them," he said at an event hosted by the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum. He added, "you voted for Trump, you pretty much want the ACA mostly gone."
Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election and on Tuesday announced House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Price of Georgia as his pick for secretary of health and human services.
The choice of Price, Blendon said, increases the odds of Trump's administration repealing, and possibly not replacing, the ACA during the first two years of its tenure, while Republicans control Congress.
"I actually do believe something is going to happen here ... it is very important for this state to basically have a series of public/private committees of commissions take a look at how you would adapt to what will be some changes," he told the audience. "The mistake would be to believe that because of the history here nothing is going to happen."
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