Kaiser Poll Finds That Public Can Be Swayed On Individaul Mandate

The individual health insurance mandate in the Affordable Care Act has been one of the law’s most unpopular provisions, but a Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that people’s opinions change about the mandate when they know more. Generally, 33 percent support and 65 percent say they oppose the individual mandate. That number jumps to 80 percent saying they oppose it when survey participants are told it “could mean that some people would be required to buy health insurance that they find too expensive or did not want.” But when participants hear that “without the mandate, people might wait until they are seriously ill to obtain coverage, driving up insurance costs for everyone,” 47 percent support the mandate and 45 percent oppose. Another pro-mandate argument tips the public even more in favor of the individual mandate: “Sixty-one percent of those surveyed support it when told most Americans would still get their coverage through their employers and thus wouldn’t be affected by the mandate,” according to the Kaiser poll.