Whether out of principle, cost concerns or not believing health insurance is necessary given their state of health, many people who don't have employee benefits or health insurance of any kind plan on remaining that way in April and beyond, according to a new survey.
Approximately 33 percent of respondents to a recent poll said that they expect to be uninsured after March 31, despite the fact that they could be levied a fine of $95 or more for failure to have a plan in place, Bankrate reported. Of these participants, 41 percent said that they expected to remain without coverage because they can't afford premiums.
Doug Whiteman, insurance analyst at Bankrate, indicated that the efforts the government has made at better informing Americans about applying for financial assistance may have largely gone by the wayside.
"This is a staggeringly high percentage," said Whiteman. "The government has spent over half a billion dollars promoting the Affordable Care Act and more than two-thirds of uninsured Americans still don't know about the subsidies."
He added that approximately half of participants in the poll – 48 percent – are unaware of the individual mandate deadline on March 31.
Other reasons for why people intend to go without coverage in 2014, according to the poll, were being opposed to the ACA and not needing a health plan because they considered themselves to be healthy.
Many people have speculated how the health reform law will wind up impacting the nation's health care system. As of March, approximately two-thirds of Americans are content with how it works for them. Gallup found that 66 percent were satisfied with the state of health care, while one-third indicated they thought it could use some work.
