Reform law grows more unpopular: survey

The percentage of Americans who have an unfavorable view of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act rose to 50% in January—up from 41% in December—as opposition to the law increased among independents, according to a joint survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health.

While there are nearly as many people who want to expand the law (28%) or keep it as is (19%) as there are who want to repeal and replace it (23%) or just repeal it altogether (20%), most Americans, or 62%, say they disapprove of a strategy to defund and slow down implementation of the 2010 law, the findings showed. At a panel discussion in Washington, experts from Harvard and Kaiser said this is because respondents view a defunding mechanism as bad government, or unfair play.

Regarding state lawsuits that challenge the law's legality, about a third, or 32%, said state leaders filing suit are doing so because they see the law as violating the U.S. Constitution, although just as many (32%) said they think they're filing suit to gain political advantage, according to the report.

Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard University School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, said he expects Republican leaders to shift away from a “complete assault on the bill” to a more general focus on government spending cuts, which would include healthcare. So any cuts to the law would be part of a larger plan to lower the deficit and improve the economy, rather than an attack on various provisions of the bill, Blendon said.

The survey was conducted Jan. 4-14—before the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act—among a nationally representative random sample of 1,502 adults ages 18 and older.