government
Public likes Medicaid, but insurance mandate is still unpopular
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 20, 2012
The public values Medicaid as a program and largely supports the idea of expanding it to cover more low-income individuals, says a Kaiser Family Foundation opinion poll released in July.
When asked if their state should participate in the expansion and eventually pick up 10% of the cost after several years of full federal support, people were more divided in their answers. Only 49% said they would be in favor of expansion, whereas 43% voted for the status quo, the poll said.
But when opponents of the expansion were told that many poor individuals in their state wouldn’t have access to insurance and the state would be turning down additional federal money to cover its uninsured, support for expansion increased to nearly 60%.
In the meantime, the Supreme Court’s ruling that the individual mandate was constitutional as a tax had little bearing on the public’s negative views of this provision of the Affordable Care Act. The requirement to purchase insurance remained unpopular among at least two-thirds polled, regardless of whether it was called a “fine” or a “tax.”
Kaiser randomly polled 1,227 U.S. adults 18 and older by telephone for its survey, which was conducted July 17-23 (link).
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/08/20/gvbf0820.htm.
