It Turns Out Not Even Republican Voters Like Republican Health Care Ideas

Until Donald Trump talked about his “ concepts of a plan ” for replacing the Affordable Care Act two weeks ago, Republicans running for office mostly avoided the subject of health care.

A new poll suggests why: The reforms they would likely embrace are incredibly unpopular, in most cases even with self-identified Republicans.

The poll, which the research firm Data for Progress released early Tuesday and shared with HuffPost prior to publication, asked respondents how they felt about eight legislative ideas that conservatives have touted in the recent past.

Each of the ideas were part of legislationthat Republicans have promoted in the past few years or received supportin documents such as Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led agenda that influential conservatives hope can serve as a blueprint for another Trump presidency.

The response to each idea that Data for Progress tested was negative. And in most cases, it was overwhelmingly negative.

At the top of the list was “allowing insurers to deny coverage or charge people more if they have pre-existing conditions.” Seventy-seven percent of Americans oppose the idea, according to the survey, while just 15% support it.

Republicans have mostly avoided talking about this idea since 2017, when they were proposing to allow such practices to return as part of their efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

But the most recent budget proposal from the Republican Study Committee, which represents conservative GOP lawmakers, includes a version of the idea. And last week, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance talked about allowing insurers to separate beneficiaries by their level of medical risk.

That is the way conservatives frequently