Americans disfavor reform and repeal

On the one-year anniversary of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a new survey shows Americans remain split on the law, with a trend toward disfavoring but not repealing it, reports Kaiser Health News.

A new survey of 1,202 individuals by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 42 percent support the law, while 46 percent are opposed. When it conducted its first poll on healthcare reform in April 2010, 46 percent of Americans favored the law and 40 percent opposed it. However, the numbers on reform have shifted up and down repeatedly in the intervening months.

Of those who oppose the reform legislation, 20 percent are most worried about the cost of implementing the law, 19 percent are concerned about what role the U.S. government will play, while 18 percent disfavor the mandate that individuals pay coverage or additional taxes in lieu of obtaining coverage.

Despite the disparate reasons people have against reform, the opposition remains starkly split along political lines: 71 percent of Democrats support the law, while 82 percent of Republicans oppose it.

However, only 39 percent of those surveyed favor repeal of reform. Another 30 percent want reform expanded dramatically.

For more:         
- read the Kaiser Health News article
- read the Kaiser Family Foundation poll data