Half the Uninsured Do Not Like or Do Not Understand ObamaCare

The half was not told me.

I Kings, 10:7

With 5 days to go before ObamaCare health exchanges close for enrollment, it’s clear that at least half of those it is intended to help belong to the ObamaCare don’t –know-but- don’t-like-and –don’t-sign-up- crowd.

This is hard to believe.   If you set aside the Malaysian 370 flight and the Ukranian Crisis,  there is little else the media talks about. I suppose this is inevitable.  Nothing concentrates the mind like a deadline.

A new study released this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of 3,414 Americans revealed the following:   just over half of the uninsured even knew about the exchanges, and less than half knew there were subsidies to help make the exchanges affordable.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in February of the uninsured found that half said they didn’t have enough information to understand the law’s impacts,  two-thirds said they only knew a little about the law, and only a quarter knew that the dead to sign up for coverage was March 31.    

But  not knowing what the law contained or did  for them did not help the uninsured from disliking it; 56% told Kaiser they had an unfavorable view of the law.  To make matters worse. Only 15% of the uninsured said they  had received an phone call, email, text message,  door-to-door,  face-to-face visit  to explain the law.

There are several plausible explanation for this negative attitude among the uninsured,  who account for only 11% for those signing on.

·         The law is so complicated that nobody can understand it (though the polls show that more than half the uninsured and better educated do understand it.).

·         Once the uninsured do understand it, they do not like it and do not believe they can afford it despite the subsidies  (  Even the lowest priced Bronze plans have a $6000 deductible  which must be paid by those who fall into the 100% to 138%  of  federal poverty category).

·         The  persistent  anti-ACA talk  so prevalent on TV and other media outlets turns the uninsured off (if you hear negative messages often enough,   you will begin to believe them.)

For whatever reason,  at least half of the uninsured don’t like or do not understand ObamaCare  exchanges or what’s at stake for them(Olga khaza,  The Atlantic, March 24, 2014).  This is not as true among the insured who, on average, have about 50% more knowledge about the exchanges.    

Researchers at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science conclude: “ Clearly some of the most likely to be affected by the ACA were ill-prepared to navigate the new health insurance environment.”

Tweet:   Polls indicate that more than half  the uninsured do not understand and dislike the new ObamaCare  health exchange plans.