Americans Split on Government's Role in Health Care: Poll

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act as soon as he takes office, but Americans are split on whether the federal government is responsible for making sure all citizens have health care coverage, a new poll shows.

When asked, "Do you think it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have health care coverage, or is that not the responsibility of the federal government?" 52 percent of respondents said it is the government's responsibility, while 45 percent said it is not, according to Gallup in a poll released on Thursday.

Americans were more likely to say ensuring health care for citizens was a federal responsibility between 2000 and 2008, according to the annual Gallup poll. In 2006, that number hit an all-time high at 69 percent.

However, the passage of Obamacare politicized healthcare and led to a division on the issue. By 2012, only 44 percent said health care was the responsibility of the government.

A majority of Americans — 53 percent — in the most recent poll said they prefer a private health care system over a government-run system.

Throughout the campaign season, Trump vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act of 2010 starting on his first day in office but has offered no details on what would take the ACA's place.

"In some areas, they’re paying 60, 70 and 80 percent more than they were paying last year,” Trump said at a rally in October. “I called it when it first came out. It’s only getting worse, and not only for you, for the country. Because our country can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. We’re going to have great health care at a fraction of the cost, and you watch. It’ll happen."

However, after speaking with President Obama last month, Trump said he would favor keeping some parts of the law, including barring insurers from denying coverage because of preexisting conditions and allowing children to stay on their parents' health care plans until the age of 26.

Vice president-elect Mike Pence has appeared to contradict that position, saying that the transition team is working with Republicans in Congress to overturn the law.

“Decisions have been made by the president-elect that he wants to focus out of the gate on repealing Obamacare and beginning the process of replacing Obamacare with the kind of free-market solutions that he campaigned on,” Pence said.

The Gallup poll is based on telephone interviews conducted Nov. 9-13, with a random sample of 1,019 adults. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons