America / Healthcare

Health Care Reform: Recent Poll Shows Signs of Confusion

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HealthDay and Harris Interactive conducted a recent poll measuring current support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Their recent results were not too surprising: 36% of adults say they want the law repealed, 25% want to see the law modified and 21% want the law to remain as is.  The apparent divide has been linked to partisan lines – which has been attributed to the fact that people’s knowledge of health care reform is arbitrary, and therefore sticking to party lines by default.

Since ACA passed, there has been a slow steady increase in acceptance for the provisions included in the bill. To name one, 57% support children on parents’ insurance plans until they turn twenty-six, which is only 2% higher than the November 2010 rate of support.

The research has not caught up to the masses. President Obama’s State of the Union speech barely touched health care reform.  It’s no wonder because there has been a steady piling of data and research that show ACA’s unintended consequences and why it will fail to reduce healthcare costs.  President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Research Institute, Sally C. Pipes recently published a blue print for replacing ACA that favors a free market approach.  There have also been alternative ideas introduced in the Senate that could replace the ACA if repealed.

Whether Pipes’ plan or any other plan is right is subjective, but what can be taken away is that ACA is not going to end the health care reform debate.

2 thoughts on “Health Care Reform: Recent Poll Shows Signs of Confusion”

  1. I don’t think it’s a fair assumption to say that people’s knowledge of health care reform is arbitrary, and therefore sticking to party lines. I lot of the views on the ACA are based on priorities that are ideologically driven and those ideologies are also the basis of the political parties.

    People can, therefor, have the knowledge of the ACA and still arrive at views and opinions that break out by party lines.

    Take the individual mandate portion as an example. Conservatives, largely Republican, view it as wrong irregardless of any benefit of the rest of the ACA. Liberals, largely Democrat, view it is a necessary evil or no big deal because of the value they place on the rest of the ACA. Even the various court rulings on it to-date mirror those viewpoints.

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