Majority in new poll believes Obamacare problems are solvable
November 27, 2013, 12:39 PM
- Bloomberg
(Updates with Obama administration delaying the online exchange for small businesses for one year.)
Well-documented problems with the rollout of President Barack Obama’s health-care law haven’t been enough to kill most Americans’ optimism that the Affordable Care Act will work, according to a new poll.
In a CNN/ORC International poll, 54% of respondents said the problems faced by the landmark law can eventually be solved. That’s a nine-percentage-point difference from the 45% who say the law’s flaws will never be fixed.
Enrollment in health-care coverage is expected to go more smoothly in the coming weeks, as MarketWatch has reported. But officials aren’t promising that HealthCare.gov will work perfectly.
While Americans believe the law’s kinks will be worked out, that doesn’t mean they like it. According to the poll, four in 10 say they support Obama’s signature initiative, and 58% are opposed. Those figures aren’t much changed from a CNN poll taken a month ago.
President Obama himself said Tuesday that the web site is working better.
But the administration is still concerned. The New York Times reported that the White House decided not to go ahead with a big health-care marketing campaign planned for December, for fear it might drive too many people to – in the Times’s words – “the still-fragile HealthCare.gov.”
Update: Wednesday afternoon, the administration will announce a one-year delay of the online health exchange through which small businesses are to shop for health-insurance coverage, according to reports.
For more coverage of the Affordable Care Act and other health-care-industry news, check out MarketWatch’s Health Exchange blog.
– Robert Schroeder
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