Public Is Not Buying The GOP Lie About Insurance Costs

For years now, and throughout the 2016 campaign, Republicans (and their presidential candidate0 have been telling Americans that Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) is responsible for the rise in the cost of premiums for health insurance. It's not even remotely true, as most knowledgeable experts admit that the rise in premium costs have not been going up as fast as they were before Obamacare was passed.

Those same Republicans have promised to repeal Obamacare, and say they will replace it with a plan that will decrease the cost of health insurance. While that may sound good to those who don't understand the greed of the private insurance industry, it's just not going to happen. First, because those GOP congresspeople have been unable to agree on any plan at all (let alone a plan that will decrease costs). And second, because repealing Obamacare will significantly reduce the number of people with insurance and remove the mandate to have insurance -- both of which will cause the insurance companies to raise their rates.

Insurance rates were going up precipitously before Obamacare was passed, and it will do so again after it is repealed.

But the chart above shows most Americans don't believe the Republican lies. They don't believe repealing Obamacare will decrease insurance premiums. A huge majority of the general public (and all groups) believe the repeal will either increase the cost of insurance or have no effect on rising premiums. Only a tiny minority (about 21%) believe the repeal will decrease the cost of insurance.

The chart was made from information in a recent Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between December 17th and 20th of a random national sample of 1,396 (including 1,193 registered voters), with a 3.3 point margin of error.