Enrollment surge didn’t help public opinion

“Americans continue to evaluate the Affordable Care Act negatively, and their basic opinions of the law have been fairly stable over the past year,” Gallup researchers said. “That may suggest Americans have already made up their mind about the law, for the most part reflecting their underlying political orientation, and the law’s implementation is not going to influence how they feel about the law.”

Overall, Gallup found most Americans (still) aren’t excited by PPACA’s long-term prospects. Almost half of Americans (45 percent) expect the law to make the country’s health care situation worse in the long run, compared with 37 percent who believe PPACA will make it better.

Americans are more likely to think the law will affect them personally in the long run, with 32 percent expecting it to make their situation worse and 24 percent saying better.

Despite that assertion, the majority of Americans, 64 percent, say their own health care situation hasn’t yet been affected by the provisions of PPACA. This percentage has dipped only slightly from 70 percent in February 2012 as more of the law has since been implemented.

See also:

• PPACA chips away at uninsured rate
• Sebelius: QHPs have 3 million enrollees