Once individuals learn about the health insurance exchanges, a majority lean toward using them. The challenge is that so many consumers still are unaware of them.
According to the Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Marketplace survey, 76 percent of the nation's adults are aware of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. But, even with the law's initial components rolling out, only four out of every 10 individuals are aware of the grand opening Tuesday of the new insurance marketplaces.
Although current understanding remains on the high end of abysmal, surveyors discovered that once people were made aware of the marketplace, 61 percent of those eligible -- being either uninsured or having purchased an individual insurance plan at the point of survey -- claimed they were very or somewhat likely to shop for coverage in the marketplaces. More of the survey's findings on awareness includes:
All information and data courtesy of the Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Marketplace survey. Presentation by sister publication Medical Practice Insider.
"These survey findings demonstrate that people who need the health insurance coverage the marketplaces will offer want to shop for plans and find out if they are eligible for financial help," said Commonwealth Fund vice president Sara Collins, PhD, the study's lead author, in a prepared statement. "However, more work needs to be done to ensure that people who may be eligible are aware of the marketplaces and the subsidies. State and federal efforts to educate people about the marketplaces during the six-month enrollment period beginning in October need to be intensive enough to help close the information gaps this survey highlights."
Alongside such splits in comprehension, the survey also found that approximately 68 percent of adults countrywide favor Medicaid expansion -- this comes despite the fact that only 25 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The survey's findings on Medicaid ideologies were as follows:
All information and data courtesy of the Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Marketplace survey. Presentation by sister publication Medical Practice Insider.
"The strong support for expanding Medicaid is consistent with past studies showing that Americans generally like the individual components of the Affordable Care Act when they understand them," said Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, MD. "This study also shows that there is a great deal of work to be done to ensure that Americans have a clear, accurate view of the law and what it offers the American people."
Other important study findings include:
- Just under half (47 percent) of adults are aware that health insurance carriers are banned from denying coverage to people with a preexisting condition, or from charging them more money or refusing to cover a condition in their policy.
- Sixty-five percent of those ages 30 to 49 and 62 percent of those ages 50 to 64 who are potentially eligible for the coverage options said they are likely to use the marketplaces.
- Potentially eligible adults with health problems were slightly more likely to say they would use the marketplaces than adults with no health problems (65 percent vs. 57 percent). Nearly equal shares of potentially eligible people who identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans said they are very or somewhat likely to shop in the marketplaces (67 percent vs. 63 percent), though Democrats express somewhat stronger interest.
- Only a slight majority of young adults (55 percent) ages 19 to 29 who are potentially eligible for the coverage options said they are very or somewhat likely to use the marketplaces, compared to 65 percent of those ages 30 to 49.
Find more information on the survey here.