More than two-thirds of voters oppose deficit-related Medicare and Medicaid cuts to hospitals, according to a hospital-funded survey (PDF). And the findings are likely to figure prominently in hospitals' Capitol Hill lobbying.
Sixty-nine percent of voters opposed proposals for $70 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid providers over the coming decade and 22% supported the cuts, according to the Public Opinion Strategies survey of 800 registered voters in the week after the presidential election.
“In some regard, it exposes a gap between what people on the policy side are looking at versus what people in the public are willing to accept,” said Richard Pollack, executive vice president for the American Hospital Association, which commissioned the poll.