More than four years after the signing of the Affordable Care Act and numerous postponements later, sentiment regarding to health reform law is more negative than it is positive, according to a recently performed poll.
Approximately 1 in 2 Americans – 54 percent – disapproves of the ACA, survey research firm Gallup found. That's the highest rate of consumers being opposed to the health care law since November 2013, when the rate was 55 percent.
Meanwhile, approximately 43 percent said that they approved of the ACA, a slight increase from the last time in which Gallup performed the poll. At that time, only 40 percent were in favor of the health reform law.
Jeffrey Jones, methodologist at Gallup, indicated that negative sentiment has been the dominant feeling among consumers as it pertains to the ACA since 2010.
"Americans continue to evaluate the Affordable Care Act negatively, and their basic opinions of the law have been fairly stable over the past year," said Jones. "That may suggest Americans have already made up their mind about the law, for the most part reflecting their underlying political orientation, and the law's implementation is not going to influence how they feel about the law."
At the same time, though, consumers are, for the most part, quite pleased with the type of treatment they're receiving, made possible through a private plan or employee benefits. In a separate poll performed by Rasmussen Reports, more than 8 in 10 rated their health care as "excellent" or "good." Only 5 percent said that it was "poor."
This positive sentiment doesn't translate outwardly, however. For example, a mere 38 percent said that they considered the overall condition of the U.S. health care system to be good or excellent, Rasmussen Reports found. When a similar poll was done at this time last year, about 41 percent rated it as positive.
