Public Opinion on the Affordable Care Act at One Year: Continuities and Contradictions

Abstract

THE CALIFORNIA Journal of Politics & Policy Volume 3, Issue 4 Public Opinion on the Affordable Care Act at One Year: Continuities and Contradictions Claudia Deane, Sarah Cho, Bianca DiJulio, Mollyann Brodie Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Abstract On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Af- fordable Care Act (ACA) into law. The law, which includes provisions to rein in the cost of health care and improve the health delivery system, will be phased in over several years. In the interim, this signature accomplishment remains mired in in- tensely partisan debate, reflective of the fact that it passed the U.S. House and Sen- ate on party line votes, and candidates for the Republican presidential nomination continue to express an interest in repealing it wholesale. In this paper, we rely on a monthly survey series conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation to assess public reaction to the ACA across the first year of its existence, noting both the continuities of opinion and the inherent contradictions in people’s views. Keywords: Affordable Care Act, health policy, medicare, medicaid, health insur- ance Copyright © 2011 The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved. www.bepress.com/cjpp