First anniversary of health reform marked by confusion and politics, Kaiser poll says Posted: March 23rd, 2011

A key poll identified confusion, as well as sharp political divisions, over The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). According to the Kaiser Family Foundation's (KFF) Kaiser Health Tracking Poll--March 2011, 52 percent of Americans say they are confused by the health reform law, while 47 percent say they have enough information to understand it.

Americans remain politically divided over PPACA with 82 percent of Republicans in opposition to the law and 71 percent of Democrats backing it, according to the poll.

In a key finding, the survey said 66 percent of the public agree that states should be permitted to provide their own coverage if they can provide health insurance that is affordable and comprehensive. Under PPACA, states may provide their own health plan in 2017, three years after federal health care exchanges will be launched. Allowing states to provide their own health insurance plans before 2017 was backed by 75 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of Democrats, according to KFF.

Overall, one-year after it was signed into law, 21 percent of respondents surveyed supported leaving the law as is, 30 percent supported expanding PPACA, 21 percent favored repealing the law with no replacement and 18 percent favored replacing PPACA with a Republican-backed alternative, KFF said.