
Americans view healthcare as the most important issue facing the country but are doubtful Congress will pass legislation that will lower premiums and cover more people, according to a Bloomberg poll released Monday.
With the GOP push to repeal and replace ObamaCare serving as the poll’s backdrop, 35 percent of Americans surveyed indicated healthcare was their top issue, more than twice as many as any other option. The other leading issues included unemployment and jobs (13 percent), terrorism (11 percent), immigration (10 percent) and climate change (also 10 percent).
A majority, 64 percent, disapproves of how President Trump is handling healthcare, compared to 28 percent approving.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has delayed a vote on healthcare legislation that leadership hoped would be this week, as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) recovers from an unexpected surgery. Without McCain, Republican leadership didn’t have enough votes to begin debate on the bill because Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) said they would vote against a motion to proceed.
About 60 percent of those surveyed believe it’s unrealistic legislation will pass in the next several years that both lowers premiums and leads to more people with health coverage.
Conservative lawmakers have consistently pushed for a bill lowering health insurance premiums. A provision from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that was added to the revised version of the GOP plan lets insurers sell plans that don’t comply with ObamaCare’s coverage regulations as long as they also sell a plan that does.
But the measure has received pushback from healthcare experts and insurers. In a strongly worded letter sent Friday, America’s Health Insurance Plans — the major insurance trade group — and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association warned that it is “simply unworkable in any form and would undermine protections for those with pre-existing medical conditions, increase premiums and lead to widespread terminations of coverage for people currently enrolled in the individual market.”
Bloomberg surveyed approximately 1,000 people over the phone from July 8 to July 12. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.

