(HealthNewsDigest.com) – In spite of the widely reported start-up problems for the Affordable Care Act’s federal Healthcare.gov website, the October Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds no change in the public’s view of the health reform law this month.
The public remains divided, but tilting negative, on the law overall, with 44 percent viewing the law unfavorably and 38 percent viewing it favorably, similar to September’s ratings. Even with this slight negative tilt overall, a larger share of the public would like to see Congress expand the law or keep it as is (47%) than repeal it (37%), and a solid majority (60%) say they oppose cutting off funding as a way to stop the law from being implemented, similar to last month.
This month’s findings are generally consistent with those observed in Kaiser tracking polls since passage in 2010, with a sharp partisan split on all basic measures of support and opposition.
Other findings from the poll include:
- The poll finds that 55 percent of the public say they have enough information to understand the law’s impact on their family, up from 47 percent in September. The increase comes amid increased advertising, intensifying outreach efforts, and substantial media coverage about the open enrollment period, when people can sign up for coverage through the law’s new health insurance marketplaces and Medicaid expansions in twenty-six states.
- The advertising in particular seems to be finding an audience. This month, 59 percent say they saw some type of ad or commercial about the health care law in the past 30 days, up from 43 percent last month. For the first time in our tracking polls, the share saying they saw ads providing information about how to get coverage (36%) is about the same as the shares saying they saw ads for or against the law (38% for each).
- With technical problems plaguing the HealthCare.gov website and prominent in the news, nearly half the public (48%) say the federal government has done a “poor” job implementing the law and another third (32%) rate its performance as “only fair”. State governments receive somewhat higher marks for implementation, but the majority still rates their state’s performance as “only fair” (34%) or “poor” (29%).
- The public reports paying more attention to the partial government shutdown and debt-ceiling debate in October than to HealthCare.gov’s problems. More than four in ten (44%) say they followed the fight over the shutdown and debt ceiling “very closely,” while half that many (22%) say the same about the website problems.
The survey was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was conducted from Oct. 17-23 among a nationally representative random digit dial telephone sample of 1,513 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (755) and cell phone (758, including 430 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher. The full survey methodology can be viewed at: http://kff.org/health-reform/
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a leader in health policy analysis, health journalism and communication, is dedicated to filling the need for trusted, independent information on the major health issues facing our nation and its people. The Foundation is a non-profit private operating foundation, based in Menlo Park, California.
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