Business owners continue to be concerned about how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) will ultimately affect the employee benefits they provide to their workers. And as a recent poll shows, despite the government's attempt to make it more palatable to consumers, Americans in general are leery of the health law's impact.
According to the survey, which was conducted by Gallup, 42 percent of respondents said the ACA would wind up having a worse impact on them and their families as it pertains to their healthcare situation. Only 22 percent said it would make it better than it is currently.
In addition, when asked to describe how the ACA would affect the state of healthcare overall, 50 percent said it would worsen conditions, while a mere 34 percent thought things would progress in a positive fashion.
The poll also asked respondents to give their take on the ACA as a law, which was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in the summer of 2010. Approximately 52 percent said they disapproved of it, up from 45 percent when a similar poll was done in the autumn of 2012. Approval also declined, falling from 48 to 44 percent, Gallup reports.
"As the full implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act nears, Americans remain wary of the law and of what kind of impact it will have on their family's healthcare situation and the nation's overall healthcare situation," authors of the Gallup report stated. "Those without health insurance – a group that most benefits from the new law – are slightly more likely to see it as having a positive effect, but even they are not ardent supporters."
Consumers are required to purchase some type of health insurance in 2014, as stipulated by one of the rules of the ACA. Should they fail to, they will be charged a fine of approximately $95.
