Latest news
THURSDAY, Feb. 19, 2015 -- The Affordable Care Act remains one of the most significant yet controversial developments of President Barack Obama's term in office, and Americans are still divided over the health-care reform law, a HealthDay/Harris Poll released Thursday found.
A consistent 30 percent of Americans favor repeal of the law, although they're outnumbered by a majority of people who like the law as it is (26 percent) or want to keep the law with some changes (28 percent), the poll found.
Those results are about the same as polls conducted on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) between 2010 and 2012, said Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll. "The stability of public opinion on the ACA is remarkable, with attitudes to the ACA as a whole and to many elements of it remaining almost unchanged since the fall of 2012," Taylor said.
Opposition to or support for the law -- signed by Obama in 2010 -- continues to break down along party lines, with Republicans generally opposed to the legislation and Democrats in favor of it.
Yet certain aspects of the law enjoy broad support. They include providing insurance coverage regardless of pre-existing health conditions, and allowing children to remain on their parents' insurance plans until they turn 26. But, the most polarizing provision continues to be the so-called individual mandate, which requires almost all adults to have health insurance or face a fine.
The HealthDay/Harris Poll was conducted online, in English, within the United States between Jan. 29 and Feb. 2, 2015 among 2,028 U.S. adults 18 and older. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted, where necessary, to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.
The complete findings of the newest joint Harris/HealthDay poll are available here. HealthDay's news report is available here. Full data on the poll and its methodology are available at Harris Interactive.
-----
About HealthDay
HealthDay is a leading producer and syndicator of evidence-based health news for consumers and physicians and is one of the largest health news syndicators to Internet sites. Its daily consumer health news service appears on more than 5,000 websites such as MSN Health, USNews.com, Everyday Health, and government websites like Healthfinder.gov, and MedlinePlus. A daily video version of the top health news story of the day is featured on HealthDay TV and HealthDay TV en Español a 60-second daily news broadcast appearing on several major media and U.S. government websites.
HealthDay also produces Physician's Briefing, a daily news service for physicians and other medical professionals. This service is licensed to hospitals, managed care organizations, media companies and point of care providers.
HealthDay's custom content division produces specialized content for a variety of audiences and works with some of the larger health portals in the United States.
About Harris Poll
Harris Poll is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including health care, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in more than 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.