Many Americans skeptical about the benefits of health care reform Posted: July 28th, 2011

A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) finds most Americans are not sold on the benefits of health reform. Instead, the foundation's July Health Tracking Poll discovered more respondents believe health care reform will negatively affect them rather than help them.

Two years after the roll-out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) some Americans are questioning whether the federal law will do more harm than good. According to the KFF poll, not only do Americans believe the law will have a negative impact the cost of health care as a whole, they see the PPACA as responsible for making it more difficult to access affordable health insurance.

Results from the KFF poll about health care reform

Respondents were asked: under the health reform law, do you think the following will get better, worse or will stay about the same?

• Access to health care for the uninsured: 49 percent said it would get better, 23 percent said it would stay about the same, and 24 percent said it would get worse.
• Consumer protections for the average person with private health insurance: 20 percent said it would get better, 37 percent said it would stay about the same, and 37 percent said it would get worse.
• The quality of health care in the nation: 26 percent said it would get better, 28 percent said it would stay about the same, and 41 percent said it would get worse.
• The cost of health care for the nation as a whole: 28 percent said it would get better, 18 percent said it would stay about the same, and 49 percent said it would get worse.