While the aim of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was to make the health care system within the U.S. better for everyone, a considerable portion of Americans think it will ultimately be a net negative for the country when all is said and done, according to a recent poll.
Approximately 50 percent of respondents, some of whom had employee benefits from their workplace, said that the ACA would make the condition of health care in America worse off, the Gallup poll revealed. Forty-eight percent of the more than 1,000 participants indicated as much, which is right about on par with where sentiment was when a similar poll was performed in November.
In addition to a large portion of consumers believing the health care overhaul is more hurtful than harmful, more Americans have a general dislike of the legislation itself. Gallup found that 54 percent of respondents disapproved of the ACA, which 38 percent approved. This is the largest gap in sentiment since the penultimate month of the year, when 55 percent were opposed and 40 percent were in favor.
"All in all, the degree to which Americans have an opinion on the law – positive or negative – varies widely, depending on which aspect of the law is being measured," the Gallup survey stated. "Most Americans have an overall opinion about the ACA when they are asked to comment on it in general terms, and most say it will have a positive or negative effect on the nation."
In a separate poll also performed by Gallup, more than 90 percent of Americans said that they had a stance on the ACA, even though two-thirds said that the law hadn't really affected them either negatively or positively, according to Frank Newport, editor-in-chief for the survey research firm, in a web video posted.
