Smart Benefits: Polls Show Most Americans Skeptical of Obamacare
Monday, December 23, 2013
The numbers don't lie: Most Americans are not convinced that Obamacare will succeed.
• Sixty-nine percent say their premiums will increase
• Fifty-nine percent think that deductibles or copays will increase
And almost 77% blame the changes on the Affordable Care Act.
Exchange Enrollment Disappoints
What about the uninsured? While the state healthcare exchanges are designed for them, the results of a poll by CBS News/New York Times released last week reveal that 58% of the uninsured say they haven’t even looked up information about applying for insurance. And for the 49% who have tried, almost half of them weren’t able to get the information they needed. Only 10% of uninsured Americans who took the poll said they applied for insurance in the exchanges.
Individuals Don’t Like Individual Mandate
According to another well-regarded poll, the Rasmussen Reports, 58% of likely voters oppose the individual mandate, which requires Americans to have insurance. That figure represents a 4% increase over the last month, and the highest opposition so far.
Political Persuasion Plays in Polls
In all of these polls, party affiliation is a key factor when asking about politically-charged issues like Obamacare. According to a recent poll by Fox News, which has a largely Republican viewership, 67% of respondents support delaying Obamacare until all the kinks are worked out and 53% would vote to repeal it. About 20% of democrats would vote to repeal the law.
The bottom line? Most Americans are not convinced that Obamacare will succeed. To them, the outlook for the future looks grim, at best.
Related Slideshow: New England’s Healthiest States
The United Health Foundation recently released its 2013 annual reoprt: America's Health Rankings, which provides a comparative state by state analysis of several health measures to provide a comprehensive perspective of our nation's health issues. See how the New England states rank in the slides below.
Definitions
All Outcomes Rank: Outcomes represent what has already occurred, either through death, disease or missed days due to illness. In America's Health Rankings, outcomes include prevalence of diabetes, number of poor mental or physical health days in last 30 days, health disparity, infant mortality rate, cardiovascular death rate, cancer death rate and premature death. Outcomes account for 25% of the final ranking.
Determinants Rank: Determinants represent those actions that can affect the future health of the population. For clarity, determinants are divided into four groups: Behaviors, Community and Environment, Public and Health Policies, and Clinical Care. These four groups of measures influence the health outcomes of the population in a state, and improving these inputs will improve outcomes over time. Most measures are actually a combination of activities in all four groups.
Diabetes Rank: Based on percent of adults who responded yes to the question "Have you ever been told by a doctor that you have diabetes?" Does not include pre-diabetes or diabetes during pregnancy.
Smoking Rank: Based on percentage of adults who are current smokers (self-report smoking at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and currently smoke).
Obesity Rank: Based on percentage of adults who are obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or higher.
Source: http://www.americashealthrankings.org/
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