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Americans' ratings of healthcare little changed since Obamacare implemented: Gallup

Xinhua, November 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Americans' views of the cost and quality of healthcare have changed little since the healthcare overhaul, known as Obamacare, took place four years ago, and attitudes are mostly positive, Gallup found in a poll released Thursday.

Americans' overall satisfaction with the total cost they pay for their healthcare has been generally stable over the past 14 years, and continues to be similar to the historical average under U.S. President Barack Obama' s healthcare revamp, Gallup found.

The 57 percent who now say they are satisfied is close to the 58 percent average across the 15 times Gallup has asked the question since 2001. In November 2001, satisfaction hit a record high of 64 percent. The lowest point so far was 54 percent in 2006, according to Gallup.

Americans cite cost as the most urgent health problem facing the country today. One might expect that their satisfaction with healthcare costs would drop after Obamacare brought more previously uninsured people into the system and made changes to coverage. However, satisfaction with healthcare costs has remained relatively stable, Gallup said.

Not surprisingly, Americans who get their insurance through a government program such as Medicare or Medicaid are more satisfied with the cost of their insurance than those who have private insurance.

The proportion of Americans who have health insurance has increased by more than 5 percentage points in the past several years, likely as a result of Obamacare, but there has been no positive uptick in Americans' ratings of their healthcare coverage, Gallup said.

About two-thirds of Americans rate their coverage as excellent or good, and relatively few -- 10 percent in the latest survey -- rate it as poor.

One slight change is a drop from 30 percent in 2013 to 25 percent this year in the percentage of Americans who rate their coverage as "excellent," and a simultaneous five-point increase to 22 percent in those who rate it as "only fair," according to Gallup. Endi