Nothing much to read into this survey mostly because it has very little to do with the Affordable Care Act. Let’s think about this. More people are satisfied with the cost which, given most are subsidized, some heavily, is not surprising and that, of course, has a lot to do with the Affordable Care Act.
We should note that insurance is provided through private insurance companies The Affordable Care Act does not provide or administer the insurance, but rather facilitates enrollment. The insurance is administered by each separate insurance company which designs the benefits subject to legal minimums under the ACA and such minimum levels of coverage apply to all health insurance, even employer plans.
Finally, the biggest misperception of all. Neither the ACA nor any health insurance provides health care. So to say people are satisfied with the quality of their care and relate that to the Affordable Care Act is meaningless. People say the same thing about all insurance when in fact most people have no ability to assess the quality of their health care. However, both insurance companies and government attempt to influence the care you receive through incentives and penalties on your providers and on you. That can be good or bad, but you don’t know which.
It seems curious to me that with all the positive signs for this insurance 25% don’t plan to renew their coverage. And we should remember that for all the fanfare, controversy, propaganda and lies both for and against, as this article notes, only 4% of Americans are obtaining health insurance through a ACA exchange.
The Affordable Care Act’s second enrollment period, which begins this weekend, has been ushered in with a litany of criticism about everything from rate hikes to old comments from one of the people who helped craft the law.
But the consumers who actually bought insurance through the new law seem pretty happy with it.
According to a new poll from Gallup, seven out of 10 Americans who bought health insurance through government exchanges in the last year thought the quality of their care and coverage was “good” or “excellent.”
Those who bought insurance through the exchanges also appear to be more satisfied with the cost of their coverage than people who got insurance by other means. Gallup’s analysis suggests that this is probably because many people who bought insurance through the exchanges received government subsidies, making their coverage relatively inexpensive.
The survey found that 68 percent of people who bought insurance through an exchange will renew their current policy, while 7 percent will change policies but still make the purchase through an exchange.
Four percent of the adult population in the United States bought insurance through the exchanges last year.
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