• Skip to main content
Search
  • Home
  • Services
      • Behavioral Health
      • Bloodless Medicine
      • Brain & Spine
      • Cancer Care
      • Ear, Nose and Throat
      • Emergency Care
      • Geriatric Care
      • Heart & Vascular Care
      • Home Health Care
      • Medical Imaging
      • Minimally Invasive Surgery
      • Orthopedics
      • Pregnancy & Childbirth
      • Primary Care
      • Rehabilitation Services
      • Weight Loss Surgery
      • Wound Healing & Care
      • Women's Care
  • Doctors
      • Find a Primary Care Doctor
      • Find a Doctor
      • Physician Referral
      • Practices:

        Baptist Primary Care
      • Baptist AgeWell
      • Baptist Behavioral Health
      • Baptist Endocrinology
      • Baptist ENT Specialists
      • Baptist Heart Specialists
      • Baptist Infectious Diseases
      • Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Physicians
      • Baptist Neurology
      • Baptist OBGYN (Nassau)
      • Baptist Pulmonary Specialists (Nassau)
      • Baptist Rheumatology
      • Baptist Urology Group (Nassau)
      • Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute
      • Lyerly Neurosurgery
  • Locations
    • Our Hospitals:

      • Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville
      • Baptist Medical Center South
      • Baptist Medical Center Beaches
      • Baptist Medical Center Nassau
      • Baptist Heart Hospital
      • Wolfson Children's Hospital

      Imaging Centers:

      • Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
      • Mammography and Bone Density
      • Medical Imaging

      Freestanding Emergency Centers:

      • Baptist Emergency at Clay
      • Baptist Emergency at North
      • Baptist Emergency at Town Center

      Urgent Care Locations:

      • Baptist Health Clinics at Walgreens
      • CareSpot Urgent Care

      Health & Wellness:

      • 4her Center for Women
      • JCA Wellness Connexion
      • Y Healthy Living Centers

      Outpatient Locations:

      • AgeWell Center for Senior Health
      • Baptist Clay Medical Campus
      • Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center
      • Baptist Neurodiagnostic Center
      • Baptist North Medical Campus
      • Cardiac Testing Centers
      • Hill Breast Center
      • Infusion Center
      • Pharmacy
      • Rehabilitation Centers
      • Robotic Spine Surgery
      • Sleep Centers
      • Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center
      • Surgery Centers
      • Wound Care
  • Patient Info
      • Billing & Insurance Information
      • Insurance Plans Accepted
      • Price Estimate Request
      • Financial Assistance Program
      • My Baptist Connect (Patient Portal)
      • Medical Records
      • Classes and Events
      • Clinical Trials
      • Website Information
      • Tell Us What You Think
  • Health Library
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Symptoms
      • Tests
      • Surgeries and Procedures
      • Injuries
      • Nutrition
      • Poison
      • Drug Information
      • Drug Images
      • Health News
      • Video Library
  • About Us
      • Administration
      • Social Media
      • Awards & Honors
      • Careers
      • Provider Opportunities
      • Baptist MD Anderson Provider Opportunities
      • Spiritual Care
      • Social Responsibility
      • Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)
      • Corporate Wellness (PATH)
      • Volunteering
      • Newsroom
  • Juice
      • Health News Overview:

      • Brain, Spine & Nerve
      • Cancer
      • Child Health
      • Heart & Vascular
      • Lungs, Breathing & Sleep
      • Orthopedics, Bones & Muscles
      • Pregnancy & Childbirth
      • Primary Care
      • Wellness
  1. Home
  2. Health Library
  3. Health News
  4. Majority of Primary Care Docs Oppose Repeal of Obamacare: Survey

Majority of Primary Care Docs Oppose Repeal of Obamacare: Survey

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 25, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- A majority of primary care doctors oppose full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new survey published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers polled 426 internal medicine physicians, pediatricians, geriatricians and family doctors and found that only 15 percent agree with a complete dismantling of the controversial health reform law known as Obamacare.

That's lower than the 26 percent of the general public who said they want the entire act repealed, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

"Primary care physicians are on the front lines of health care -- they are physicians that patients know best and turn to first when they are sick. With primary care physicians often helping patients navigate challenges with their insurance, it is critical to understand their perspectives on the repeal of the act," said lead author Dr. Craig Pollack. He's an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

"What we heard is that the majority of primary care physicians are open to changes in the law, but overwhelmingly opposed full repeal," Pollack said in a Hopkins news release.

About three-quarters of the doctors support changes to the law. Those changes include creating a public option like Medicare to compete with private plans, paying doctors for value rather than volume, and increasing the use of health savings accounts. Only 29 percent of the doctors support increased use of high-deductible health plans.

The survey found strong support for parts of the Affordable Care Act, which brought coverage to an estimated 20 million previously uninsured Americans:

  • 95 percent of the doctors support rules prohibiting insurers from denying coverage or charging higher prices to people with pre-existing conditions.
  • 88 percent support allowing young adults to remain on their parents' insurance plan until age 26.
  • 91 percent support tax credits to small businesses that offer health insurance to employees.
  • 75 percent support tax subsidies to individuals to buy insurance.
  • 72 percent support Medicaid expansion.
  • 50 percent support tax penalties for people who don't buy health insurance.

Among the doctors, no Democrats want complete repeal, compared with 32 percent of Republicans and nearly 38 percent of those who voted for President Donald Trump.

The study was published Jan. 25.

"We don't yet know what provisions may be repealed or modified, but we have started to see signs of what could be coming, and what has been absent in the conversation so far is how physicians feel the law has impacted their patients and the care they are able to deliver," said study co-author Dr. David Grande, director of policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Institute of Health Economics.

Republicans in Congress are moving ahead with their efforts to repeal the law, recently passing a budget measure that would make repeal easier.

And Trump issued an executive order last week that allows federal agencies the freedom to delay or ignore parts of Obamacare that are said to burden individuals, insurers, health care providers and others.

Two Republican senators on Monday offered an alternative to the law that would allow states to stick with the Affordable Care Act or opt for a similar amount of federal money. The money could then be used for consumers' medical care and health insurance.

More information

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more on the Affordable Care Act.

SOURCE: Johns Hopkins University, news release, Jan. 25, 2017

Daily Health and Medical News

  • Put Your Best Feet Forward, Despite Diabetes
    April 01, 2018

  • Prenatal Test Advance May Help Spot Serious Gene Mutations
    March 31, 2018

  • Many Grad Students Struggle With Anxiety, Depression
    March 30, 2018

  • Brain Cell Development Differs in Those With Autism: Study
    March 30, 2018

  • With Warmer Weather Comes Wrap-Up of Severe Flu Season
    March 30, 2018

© Copyright 2018 | All Rights Reserved

If you speak another language, assistance services
free of charge, are available to you.

Baptist Health Facebook Baptist Health Twitter Baptist Health on LinkedIn
Physician Login | Application Login | Employee Login
Quality Measures | Privacy | Non-Discrimination | Comments | Site Map