Statewide Poll Finds Californians Split on the Affordable Care Act

Californians are equally split in their opinions of the Affordable Care Act, with 44% supporting the law and 44% opposing it, according to a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, the San Jose Mercury News reports (Seipel, San Jose Mercury News, 12/4).

Editor's Note: For more information on the poll, check out today's "Capitol Desk."

Details of Poll

The poll surveyed more than 1,700 California residents from Nov. 12 to Nov. 19.

There was a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points (AP/Sacramento Bee, 12/4).

Additional Findings

The poll found that 66% of respondents were aware of Covered California, the state health insurance exchange (Herdt, Ventura County Star, 12/4).

In addition, the survey found that:

• 66% of uninsured respondents planned to obtain health coverage under the ACA;
• 24% of uninsured respondents did not plan to obtain coverage under the law; and
• 11% of uninsured respondents were unsure about whether they would obtain coverage (HealthyCal, 12/4).

Meanwhile, 72% of uninsured respondents ages 18 to 44 said they likely will purchase health insurance, and 51% of uninsured respondents age 45 and older said they likely will purchase coverage.

Reaction

Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of PPIC, said the poll found "a solid majority reflecting awareness [of the law] as well as interest."

However, Baldassare said the "degree to which they follow through (on signing up for insurance) will be something we will want to look at after a few months."

Gerald Kominski, a UCLA health care economics professor, said the poll results run "counte[r] to what a lot of people were expecting."

Glenn Melnick -- a health care economics professor at the University of Southern California -- said it was surprising that more older individuals did not plan to seek insurance.

"You expect this group to be a little more responsible, planning their health insurance and having done some research," Melnick said, adding, "Maybe they found they could not afford it and the cost of premiums have gone up" because of the ACA (San Jose Mercury News, 12/4).