Yet another poll has been released about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, examining how the public feels about the health reform legislation. Despite being the law of the land for more than four years, a large majority of Americans think that the quality of health care will diminish if it remains installed in its present form.
More than 5 in 10 likely voters – 53 percent – indicated they believe the overall caliber of medical treatment and services will worsen under the ACA, according to a newly released Rasmussen Reports poll.
Even with more people who have enrolled – at least 7 million, according to President Barack Obama and the White House's estimates – the rate of those opposed to the legislation has risen.
"Despite the Obama administration's claim that it has exceeded its March 31 goal of signing up seven million Americans through new health insurance exchanges, overall unfavorables for the health care law are up from 54 percent two weeks ago," the Rasmussen survey stated. "Most voters have had an unfavorable opinion of the law in regular surveys since the beginning of last year."
An indicator as to how consumers feel about the ACA is political affiliation. In a separate Gallup poll, Republicans were 17 times more likely to have a negative view of the health reform law than Democrats. Independents were also likely to be opposed to it, five times more than Democrats.
Among those who don't have employee benefits, Republicans tend to be more inclined to pay the fine than purchase coverage. In a different survey also undertaken by Gallup, nearly 60 percent of uninsured Republicans said that they'd pay the penalty rather than buy through the exchanges. Only 18 percent of Democrats without insurance said they'd do the same thing.
