Survey: About Half of Likely Voters in California Support ACA

About half of likely voters in California have a favorable opinion of the Affordable Care Act, and 75% approve of Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) recent budget proposal, which includes funds for implementing the law, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, U-T San Diego reports.

Poll Details

For the poll, researchers surveyed 1,706 adult state residents, including 1,151 likely voters, by telephone from Jan. 14 to Jan. 21 (Gardner, U-T San Diego, 1/29).

The poll was funded by the James Irvine Foundation (Cadelago, "Capitol Alert," Sacramento Bee, 1/29).

Support for Health Care Reform

The poll found that 51% of likely voters in the state support changes under the ACA, while 45% oppose such changes (PPIC poll, 1/29).

Seventy-two percent of uninsured respondents said they plan to purchase health coverage this year in compliance with the law, while 18% said they will not obtain coverage and 9% said they are unsure if they will do so.

Support for Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange, varied among ethnic groups, with:

62% of blacks saying the exchange is working well;

52% of Latinos saying the exchange is working well;

45% of Asians saying the exchange is working well; and

39% of whites saying the exchange is working well.

Meanwhile, 50% of uninsured respondents said the Covered California website is working well, compared with 36% of insured respondents ("Capitol Alert," Sacramento Bee, 1/29).

Support for Brown's Budget Plan

Meanwhile, 75% of likely voters said they approved of Brown's fiscal year 2014-2015 budget proposal, including:

90% of Democrats (PPIC release, 1/29);

75% of Independents; and

66% of Republicans (AP/Washington Times, 1/29).

Brown's plan includes:

$670 million to expand existing Medi-Cal benefits;

A 6.4% funding increase for In-Home Supportive Services; and

Exemptions for Medi-Cal providers from having to repay the state for a 10% reimbursement rate cut that is retroactive to 2011.

Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program (California Healthline, 1/15).

According to the Times, Brown's budget plan has received more support than any budget proposal he has introduced since taking office (Washington Times, 1/29).

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