A Gallup survey finds that a majority of Americans would like to see the healthcare reform repealed. This is quite different from a recent CNN poll that found that support for the insurance mandate has gone up. Either way, it is clear that this country is quite divided in its opinion of the healthcare reform laws.
A poll was conducted by ORC International Poll for CNN. This poll was done on November 11, 12, and 13 of 2011. There were a total of 1,036 adult Americans who were questioned by telephone. The overall results showed that the health insurance mandate gained some support since June of 2011. Specifically, this was among older Americans and among lower-income Americans.
That results of this poll were compared with data from a previous poll that was done in June of 2011. In June, 44% of Americans were in favor of the individual mandate. In November of 2011, that number increased to 52% who were in favor of it. In June, 54% of Americans opposed the insurance mandate. In November, only 47% oppose it.
Gallup just did a survey that included more than 1,000 adult Americans. This survey found that 47% of Americans would like to see the repeal of healthcare reform. It also showed that 42% of adult Americans would like that law to be kept in place. Somehow, 11% of the respondents had no opinion.
The Gallup survey also showed 50% of Americans believe the federal government does have a responsibility to ensure that all Americans have health care coverage. On the other hand, 46% of adult Americans do not believe that the government has to live up to that responsibility.
Another thing that this Gallup poll showed was that there has been a slight reduction in the support Americans feel about using private health insurance as the basis for gaining medical services. About 56% of adult Americans do continue to prefer using private health insurance. 39% of adult Americans are in favor of a government-run health insurance system.
The Supreme Court is going to hear the case regarding the insurance mandate sometime in 2012. It is expected that there will be a final decision announced in July of 2012. The Affordable Care Act has been called President Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. Republicans want to see the healthcare reform law repealed because they feel that it creates an intrusive government that wants to raise taxes and place burdensome regulations on businesses.
Image by Dominik Syka on Flickr