Poll: Most will get health insurance - Politico

Asked whether they plan to get insurance when the requirement takes effect or pay the fine for not doing so, 65 percent of uninsured Americans said they would get health insurance, according to a Gallup poll out Monday. Twenty-five percent said they would pay the fine.

Gallup also asked about the whether those individuals planned to use the exchange markets that launch Tuesday to buy their insurance. Almost half, 48 percent, said they planned to use the exchanges, 36 said they did not and 17 percent weren’t sure.

Over the weekend, the House passed a government funding bill that would delay the individual mandate from taking effect for one year, even though the president has threatened to veto it and Senate Democrats say they will not vote for it.

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Gallup found awareness of the individual mandate’s requirements has grown, though still more than a quarter of uninsured Americans don’t know about it. Overall, 83 percent of Americans said they were aware of the mandate kicking in in January, while 68 percent of uninsured Americans were aware, including 69 percent of the key demographic of uninsured 18-to 29-year-olds.

In June, only 56 percent of uninsured Americans were aware of the mandate.

There was not much awareness, though, of the exchanges that debut this week. Only 37 percent of Americans had some familiarity with them, and only 25 percent of uninsured Americans did.

Meanwhile, a separate poll also found a high rate of confusion and concern among the public about the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. More than half of those surveyed, or 51 percent, said that “worried” described their feelings toward the ACA, and 49 percent chose “confused,” according to a Kaiser Family Foundation/NBC News poll. Frustration also seemed to outpace excitement: While 29 percent said “angry” described their feelings, 24 percent chose “enthusiastic.”

Gallup surveyed 5,099 adults, including 651 uninsured Americans, from Sept. 17 to 26 for the poll, which has an error margin of plus or minus 2 percentage points overall and 5 percentage points for those without insurance.

The Kaiser Family Foundation polled 1,503 Americans from Sept. 12 to 18 for its survey, which has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.