When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, it was largely passed down party lines, as not a single Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate voted in favor of it.
Apparently, politics is still affecting how Americans view the health reform law and whether they will wind up purchasing coverage as a result.
Approximately 75 percent of Democrats without employee benefits said they intend to buy insurance through the exchanges rather than pay the fine, according to polling firm Gallup. That's nearly double the rate of Republicans, as less than 4 in 10 said that they would do the same thing.
"The Affordable Care Act, as is evidenced by the popular sobriquet 'ObamaCare' tying it directly to a sitting president, remains highly political," said Frank Newport, editor in chief at Gallup. "Not only are Americans' attitudes about the law itself highly partisan, but so are uninsured Americans' self-reported intentions to sign up for the health insurance that the law requires."
Besides politics, what may also play a role in uninsured Americans' willingness to buy coverage is the cost of premiums. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 85 percent of people who selected plans in the open enrollment period were eligible to receive federal subsidies. The Kaiser Family Foundation confirmed this through its own analysis.
The KFF study found that the financial assistance that consumers can receive largely depends on the state that they're in. However, even with subsidies, participation has been weak. For example, between October and the beginning of March, fewer than 10 people in several states had selected marketplace-based plans.
