Americans are divided on the effects of the Affordable Care Act within their communities, according to a recent poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Boston-based Harvard Chan School of Public Health. More than a third (34%) of Americans also believes the cost of health care services has become less affordable in the past two years, and more than one in five (22%) say the same of prescription drugs.
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Twenty-six percent of USA adults say they have been personally harmed by the healthcare law since its passage – a fraction that likely reflects those in the poll who said they have noticed rising healthcare costs in the last several years.
“On the other hand, on a personal level, most Americans do not believe the law directly affected them”, Harvard health policy professor Robert J. Blendon tells NPR.
The polls were conducted in seven separate states, including Florida, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas, Kansas, Ohio, and Wisconsin, surveying almost 1,000 people.
For the national poll, interviews were conducted with a nationally representative probability sample of 1,002 USA adults. People were contacted using telephone during the time period between September 8 and November 9, last year.
More than 7 in 10 participants in the NPR poll said they get good value for what they pay toward the cost of their healthcare. In terms of benefits, one in six adults reported receiving more benefits since the ACA. However, the majority of adults in the USA say their benefits, co-pays, deductibles and benefits have stayed about the same over the past two years. When added to the 18 percent of adults in the US who say their care is fair or poor, the data suggest the United States has a long way to go if it hopes to have one of the highest-quality health care systems in the world. Only 13 percent of adults with higher income said the same thing.
Almost half (45 percent) of those in our national survey said their insurance premiums have increased in the past two years. 23 percent did not have insurance. Among those who say they have experienced serious problems, more than 40 percent say they have spent all or most of their personal savings on large medical bills.
When asked whether national health reform has directly impacted them, most Americans said it has had no direct impact (56 percent) or it has helped them (15 percent). Only 62 percent reported excellent or good healthcare, and among those with annual household incomes of $25,000 or more, 86 percent reported good or excellent care. Although adults appeared to like the care they received, they still did not like the health care system.
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A plurality of the public rates the health care they get personally as good (46 percent), but surprisingly few rate it as excellent (33 percent).
