More than half of Americans say they're confused about the new health reform law and don't yet have enough information to understand how it will affect them, according to last month's Kaiser Health Tracking Poll.
The April poll finds that the public supports many of the provisions of health reform that will be implemented in the short term, but remains divided on the law. Of those polled, 46 percent view it favorably, 40 percent view it unfavorably and 14 percent are undecided.
Similarly, 31 percent of Americans say they expect to be better off because of the law, while 32 percent say they will be worse off and 30 percent say they don't expect to be affected.
"People are struggling to understand how the law will affect them and their families and to separate fact from political spin," said Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman.
Officials say the new law was constructed to include some provisions that take effect in the first year so that the public would feel tangible results in the short term. The poll tested the popularity of many of these early measures and found widespread support for them across the political spectrum.
Nearly nine in 10 Americans favor providing tax credits to small businesses that want to provide coverage for their workers. Also, roughly eight in 10 have favorable views of provisions that would offer access to basic preventive care with no co-payments, provide financial help to seniors who hit the gap in Medicare drug coverage (known as the "doughnut hole") and end insurance companies' practice of dropping coverage if a person has a major health problem.
Other findings include:
- 75 percent of those polled favor the creation of a high risk pool in the short term for those unable to get coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
- 74 percent favor the measure that allows children to stay on their parents' insurance plans until age 26.
- 71 percent favor measures that prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.
- 68 percent of those polled favor the measure that requires insurance companies that are spending too little on healthcare vs. administrative costs and profits to provide rebates to customers.
- 65 percent favor reviews of health plan premium increases and requiring plans to justify them.
- 57 percent favor the measure to limit future increases in Medicare payments to certain types of health providers.
Also, 30 percent of the public reports feeling angry – including 16 percent who say they are "very angry" – with the passage of the health reform law (9 percent did not like the way the policymaking process worked, 7 percent did not like the final content, and 12 percent did not approve of either).