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Thursday, December 19, 2013

Poll: Many Of "The Uninsured" Think Obamacare Will Harm Them

Alan: About one third of "the uninsured" think Obamacare will hurt them. Wow. The bad news is that so many Americans have been degraded by the nation's educational and political process that they believe affordable, high-quality health insurance will hurt them even though they currently have no insurance at all. The good news is that these many millions will soon "see the light," contributing to Obamacare's imminent success.  


Uninsured Skeptical of Health Care Law in Poll


WASHINGTON — Americans who lack medical coverage disapprove of President Obama’s health care law at roughly the same rate as the insured, even though most say they struggle to pay for basic care, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
Eric Gay/Associated Press
Rosemary Cabelo looking at health insurance plans on HealthCare.gov last week during a visit to a public library in San Antonio.

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Fifty-three percent of the uninsured disapprove of the law, the poll found, compared with 51 percent of those who have health coverage. A third of the uninsured say the law will help them personally, but about the same number think it will hurt them, with cost a leading concern.
The widespread skepticism, even among people who are supposed to benefit from the law, underscores the political challenge facing the Obama administration as it tries to persuade millions of Americans to enroll in coverage through new online marketplaces, a crucial element of making the new law financially viable for insurers.
There are several reasons the uninsured appear to be as wary of the law as the insured, including opposition to the requirement that most people have insurance. Still, nearly six in 10 uninsured said having insurance would make their own health better. And 56 percent said they were more likely than not to get insurance by March 31, the deadline to enroll in coverage or face a tax penalty under the law. Thirty-five percent said they were more likely to pay the penalty.
Over all, support for the 2010 health care law has improved since November, when it dropped to an all-time low of 31 percent in a CBS News poll after the flawed rollout of the federal online insurance exchange. The new poll showed approval of the law at 39 percent and disapproval at 50 percent among the general public.
But with the law’s central provisions set to take effect in less than two weeks, uninsured Americans — precisely those it was meant to help — remain confused about it and fearful that it will increase their health care costs. And nearly six in 10 said they had not researched insurance on the online marketplace, even though, based on the demographics of the sample, many probably qualify for free or subsidized coverage.
“I don’t understand it at all,” said Derrick Stapleton, 47, an independent from Peru, Ind., speaking in a follow-up interview. Mr. Stapleton, who is uninsured and out of work, said he planned to sign up for coverage before the March 31 deadline. But he added, “It sounds, from what I understand, that it might not be as affordable as they once thought.”
Even as the insured and uninsured expressed similar misgivings about the law, the uninsured reported starkly different experiences with the health care system. Their responses suggested they were far more likely than the insured to have trouble paying for medical care, to rely more on emergency rooms and community clinics, and to forgo treatment.
Of the uninsured who said they were not likely to sign up by the deadline, fully half said it was because of the high cost. Twenty-nine percent said they planned to go without coverage because they object to the government’s requiring it, and 11 percent said they did not need health insurance.
The poll was conducted among 1,000 adults nationwide by telephone from Dec. 5 to Dec. 8 and among 702 uninsured adults from Dec. 4 to Dec. 15.
The uninsured respondents were generally younger, poorer and less educated than the respondents in the general population. Three-quarters of the uninsured were between 18 and 44, and about one in eight had college degrees. Slightly more than half said they earned less than $30,000 a year.
The requirement to get coverage or pay a penalty remains unpopular among the general public, the poll found, with uninsured Americans voicing disapproval at a higher rate than the insured population. Seventy-seven percent of the uninsured said they disapproved of the mandate, compared with 65 percent of those who already have health insurance.
David Bishop, 46, a Republican from Groton, N.Y., said the mandate was “just taking away your constitutional freedom of choice.” Mr. Bishop, who is caring for his four children while his wife works, said he had looked at New York’s online insurance marketplace but found it difficult to use and did not get the information he needed. He did say, however, that he planned to get insurance through the marketplace, or exchange, before the March deadline.

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