Americans' satisfaction with healthcare system edges down: Gallup

Sixty-five percent of Americans are satisfied with the way the U.S. healthcare system works for them, down slightly from 67 percent in 2014, a new Gallup poll has found.

The major healthcare overhaul, known as Obamacare as it was implemented by U.S. President Barack Obama, has been controversial. Critics have blasted it as providing healthcare for low income people at the expense of the middle class. Others, however, have noted that more people are now insured than was previously the case before Obamacare.

Since 2014, personal satisfaction with the healthcare system has declined among all insured groups, including a four-point drop (from 66 percent to 62 percent) among adults who pay for their own insurance, and three-point drop (from 69 percent to 66 percent) among those covered by an employer, union, or military or veterans' insurance, according to Gallup.

Americans with Medicare, Medicaid and military or veterans' insurance continue to express the most satisfaction with the healthcare system, at or near 75 percent, while uninsured Americans report the lowest, at 40 percent.

Republicans, at 58 percent, and independents, at 62 percent, are less satisfied than Democrats, at 75 percent, with the way the healthcare system works for them, Gallup found.

While Democrats' satisfaction has been stable between 2014 and 2016, with a slight decline from 77 percent to 75 percent, Republicans' satisfaction has declined four points, from 62 percent to 58 percent.

Americans' slightly reduced satisfaction with the U.S. healthcare system comes during a presidential election in which Obamacare has been hotly debated. While Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton supports Obamacare, her Republican rival Donald Trump advocates repealing it. Endit