While President-elect Donald Trump announced key appointments to posts responsible for the nation’s health care policies, a Gallup poll continued a yearslong indication of public discontent with Obamacare.
Some 53 percent of those polled in November dislike the Affordable Care Act (ACA) while only 42 percent approve, figures relatively unchanged since the ACA passed in 2010 and the exchanges opened in 2014. In addition, 37 percent of those polled want the legislation repealed while another 43 percent favor keeping but overhauling the program.
From his Eastern White House-to-be in New York (aka Trump Tower), the president-elect and his staff announced that Congressman Tom Price (R., Ga.), a former orthopedic surgeon who has long criticized federal overreach in health care, would be nominated for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Shortly thereafter came the announcement that Seema Verna, a consultant who helped Vice-President-elect Mike Pence when he was governor of Indiana negotiate a sweeping Medicare deal, would be put forth as nominee for the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which directly administers Obamacare.