On August 16th, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, a $750 billion health care, tax, and climate bill, into law.
The act makes major changes to Medicare policies, including giving Medicare the ability to negotiate prices of certain prescription drugs and putting a $2,000 cap on annual out-of-pocket prescription drug costs, starting in 2025.
In August, MedicarePlans.com surveyed 1,000 American adults 65-85 years old to find how seniors feel about the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Key findings:
- 48% of adults 65-85 oppose the Inflation Reduction Act; 76% of Republicans, 50% of Independents, and 11% of Democrats ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat disapprove.’
- IRA worsened opinion of Biden and Democratic Party among Republicans
- 57% of Republicans support cutting prescription drug costs provision, despite overall opposition to the IRA
- 42% of Independent voters say they would vote Republican if midterms were held today
- 26% of Republicans say their own party isn’t doing enough to make healthcare affordable
48% of seniors oppose the Inflation Reduction Act
The plurality of senior respondents (41%) identify as Republican, 29% Democrat, and 26% Independent. Overall, 62% seniors disapprove of the way Job Biden is handling his job as President.
When it comes to their opinion of the Inflation Reduction Act, 76% of Republicans, 11% of Democrats, and 50% of Independents ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat disapprove.’
On the flip side, 8% of Republicans, 66% of Democrats, and 32% of Independents ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat support’ the Inflation Reduction Act.
Despite overall opposition, 57% of Republicans support Medicare provision
Cutting prescription drug costs and the medicare out-of-pocket limit drives support for the act across parties.
Although most Republicans oppose the act, 84% support at least one part of the act. Many Republicans support the Medicare-related provisions. Fifty-seven percent support cutting prescription drug costs for Medicare enrolls, and 39% support setting a $2,000 Medicare out-of-pocket limit.
Additionally, 96% of Independents support some parts of the act, and similar to Republicans, the support is mostly around Medicare-related provisions.
IRA worsened opinion of Biden across opposing parties
Many of those who are not affiliated with the Democratic Party say that the IRA worsened their opinion of both the party and Biden.
Forty-six percent of Republicans say their opinion of Biden worsened, while only 9% say their opinion improved. Additionally, 49% say their opinion of the Democratic Party worsened, while only 7% say it improved.
Twenty-five percent of Independents say their opinion of Biden worsened, and 24% say it improved. Additionally, 25% say their opinion of the Democratic Party worsened, and 24% say it improved.
However, the act was popular among Democrats, and it did improve their opinion of Biden and the party overall. Of Democrats, 58% say their opinion of Biden improved, and 57% say their opinion of the Democratic Party improved.
2 in 5 Independent seniors, plan to vote Republican in the midterms
Of Independent voters, 18% say the IRA has had a big influence on the way they will vote in the midterms, and 30% say it had some influence.
If the election for the U.S. Congress was held in their district today, 42% of Independent voters say they would be more likely to vote Republican over Democrat. Twenty-nine percent say they would be more likely to vote Democrat, and the remaining 29% are unsure.
Even among Independent voters who support the Inflation Reduction Act, 12% say it’s not important at all for the candidate they vote for to support the act. This is despite the fact that the majority (55%) of Independent voters say Republicans aren’t doing enough to make healthcare affordable.
Twenty-six percent of Republicans also say Republicans don’t do enough to make healthcare affordable, but 93% say they would vote for their party if the election for U.S. congress was today.
Currently, 87% of Democrats say they would vote for their party.
Methodology
This survey was commissioned by MedicarePlans.com and conducted online by the survey platform Pollfish August 27, 2022. In total, 1000 participants in the U.S. aged 65-80 were surveyed.
For full survey results please contact [email protected].