If death and taxes are two guarantees in life, making a strong case for a third is Americans' continued ambivalence of the Affordable Care Act, which became the law of the land over six years ago.
By the scantiest of margins, approximately 49 percent of Americans are opposed to the health reform law, according to a newly released survey conducted by Gallup. Meanwhile, roughly 47 percent are supportive of health care reform, which among other things requires businesses to provide employee benefits to their full-time staff, assuming they have 50 or more individuals working for them.
Since March 2010, when President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law, the public has remained rather evenly divided in their acceptance of the sweeping changes. The biggest disparity came in late 2014, when Gallup found that 56 percent disapproved of the insurance mandate and 37 percent approved. In the two years since then, Americans' sentiment has narrowed, with 44 percent in favor and 52 percent opposed late last year to the most recent 47 percent versus 49 percent supportive and unsupportive, respectively.
More people say health law has positively affected them
What has played a role in some consumers' ability to warm up to the ACA is how it's benefited them. Approximately 23 percent of respondents in the Gallup poll said "Obamacare" – as it's colloquially known – has helped them in one way or another. That's the highest percentage of people indicating as such in four years.
Conversely, others said Obamacare has been more of a negative than a positive. Over 1 in 4 indicated the health care overhaul has had a deleterious impact on their lives, a 10 percent uptick versus 2012, the poll found.
Art Swift, managing editor of Gallup, noted how political leanings are good indicators as to which side people come down on in the ACA debate.
"As they have been since the law's inception, views of the ACA are divided along party lines, with Democrats strongly positive and Republicans strongly negative," Swift explained.
He added that these attitudes have been evidenced by the respective parties' presidential nominees in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and real estate business tycoon Donald Trump.
Slightly higher share opposed than in favor in Pew poll
Further establishing Americans' mixed emotions on the health care law is a separate newly released study, this one from the Pew Research Center. Similar to the Gallup survey, more people are against the ACA than supportive, at 54 percent to 44 percent, respectively, the report stated. Late last year, when the U.S. Supreme Court sided in favor of the government's ability to provide subsidies for those purchasing through the health exchanges, 49 percent were opposed and 48 percent approved. However, after accounting for political affiliation, the gulf between the two camps grows much wider, with 78 percent of Democrats championing the law compared to just 18 percent of Republicans.
Where Americans share some common ground is their agreement that health care is a top national issue. Regardless of party, gender or age, 80 percent of likely voters say health care is a significant concern, especially with 2016 being an election year, a survey conducted by CreditKarma found.
Pollsters say it should be interesting to see how the public's opinion develops as the general election in November draws closer.
