Most people with health insurance under the Affordable Care Act continue to be satisfied with the law, which has helped many people who didn't previously have access to timely care, according to a recent survey from the Commonwealth Fund.
This would seem to bode well for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but there is also concern that insurance premiums for this year will increase dramatically. Consumers will be seeing the new rates as 2017 open enrollment begins just days before the general election.
Clinton has defended the ACA, saying it has been successful but more should be done to bring down costs and get to 100% coverage. She criticized the Medicare-for-all plan of her primary rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders because she said it could never get through Congress and would undo positive work from the ACA.
Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump has put forward some vague healthcare proposals that have long been popular among conservatives, including allowing insurance to be purchased across state lines and converting Medicaid into a state block-grant program. And although he has at times embraced various components of the ACA, his standard rhetoric remains strongly against the law.
An analysis Avalere released last month found a wide variety in premium estimates for 2017 and an average silver plan increase of 12% in the nine states that published early data. Some requests have been in the 50% or 60% range.
Analysts have been speculating for months that the premium increases for next year will be particularly high because of higher healthcare costs and the end of risk corridor programs that helped insurers deal with the unknowns of who would enroll in plans under the ACA.
According to the Commonwealth survey, nearly half of those enrolled in the marketplace were uninsured before enrolling and about 60% of those who received expanded access to Medicaid were previously uninsured. Most of the previously uninsured from both groups had not had coverage for more than two years.
Also, 72% of those newly enrolled in the marketplace or Medicaid said they had used their coverage for medical treatment and 61% said they would not have been able to get the care before their new coverage.
All of that led to a finding that 82% of the new enrollees were either somewhat or very satisfied with their insurance.
“If the fundamental purpose of health insurance is to provide people with adequate access to needed health care, then it would seem that, on balance, the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansions are working well for most of the people who have enrolled in them,” the authors wrote.
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll from earlier this year found 36% of those surveyed said healthcare was “extremely important” and 42% said it was “very important” to their vote for president. The issue is most important to Democratic voters and to women, the survey found.
