The disastrous rollout of the Obamacare exchanges has certainly delivered a blow to the Affordable Care Act, but sheer ignorance may eventually emerge as the biggest enemy for ACA advocates as an astounding seven in 10 uninsured Americans still are not familiar with the health care reforms.
According to a new Gallup poll, 71% of Americans who lack health insurance -- the primary target group for the exchanges -- say they are "not too familiar" or "not familiar at all" with them. Worse yet, though Obamacare has been in the news every day for the past month, due to the budget fight that led to a shutdown, the Oct. 1 launch of the online exchanges, and the continuing horror stories about healthcare.gov, familiarity with Obamacare is essentially unchanged from the last Gallup poll on this subject in September.
Participation rates on the exchanges are far more than just an issue that could give the White House bragging rights. It is essential to the success of the program because the new system needs wide participation, including among young, healthy people in order for the insurance policies offered to remain affordable.
One silver lining for the president: The people represented in the poll are so out of the loop and uninformed that they are probably not aware at all of the healthcare.gov meltdown, so they’re not discouraged or cautious as they eventually attempt to enroll online in the ACA.
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