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News
Poll Results: Pennsylvania Medicaid Expansion
November 8, 2013
Poll: Pennsylvania Voters Want State to Use Federal Funds
to Cover Uninsured Through Medicaid
[Harrisburg, PA] – Nov. 7, 2013 – Public opinion polling released today by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) shows that registered voters in Pennsylvania strongly agree that the state should accept federal funds that are available to broaden access to health coverage through Medicaid. By a margin of 65 percent to 25 percent, Pennsylvania voters support such a move, which would provide more 520,000 low-income Pennsylvanians with access to lifesaving preventive care and treatments for cancer and other serious diseases.
The poll, conducted by a bipartisan pair of polling firms, Perry Undem and GS Strategy Group, reflects strong public support for Pennsylvania to make Medicaid coverage available to individuals and families earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, as urged by the Affordable Care Act. Under the law, federal funds would pay 100 percent of the costs of covering more uninsured people in the state beginning in 2014, with the federal share gradually decreasing to no less than 90 percent of the costs.
“Pennsylvania has an opportunity to provide thousands of currently uninsured people with lifesaving health coverage through Medicaid, and public sentiment is decidedly in favor of using available federal dollars to pay for it,” said Diane Phillips, state policy director of ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. “If Pennsylvania makes the right choice, families across the state will have the security of knowing they have access to proven cancer screenings and treatments they otherwise could not afford.”
Key findings of the poll include:
- By a 40 point margin, Pennsylvania voters want the state to accept federal money to cover more uninsured adults with health coverage through Medicaid or by helping uninsured individuals buy private plans (65% vs. 25%).
- When they learn that by turning down the federal money that Pennsylvanians who earn less than $15,000 a year would not receive any new help to get affordable health coverage while uninsured people making more than $15,000 would qualify for new tax credits to help them pay for coverage – more than two-thirds of voters want Pennsylvania leaders to accept the federal money (67% vs. 27%).
“Beginning next year, Medicaid will offer a defined set of essential benefits to prevent and treat a serious disease such as cancer,” Phillips said. “Improving access to Medicaid coverage in Pennsylvania will save lives and reduce health care costs, which are an increasing burden on our state.”
ACS CAN is working in Pennsylvania to support strong implementation of provisions of the ACA that enable people with cancer or at risk for cancer to access critical prevention measures such as mammograms and colonoscopies, treatments and follow-up care for cancer.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
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