Poll: Americans don’t think Obama law will make healthcare better — or worse

Forget death panels and gold-plated healthcare plans.

Apparently, a majority of Americans don’t think President Obama’s healthcare reform law will do much either way to change the quality of their healthcare. Many still want the law gone, though.

A new Associated Press-GfK poll of 1,000 adults found that 51 percent of respondents think the quality of their healthcare will be “about the same” with or without the law. That’s almost twice the 26 percent of respondents who felt that way when the question was asked 10 months ago.

The change can be explained by a 15-point drop since last April in the percentage of people who believe the reform law will lead to worse care, from 47 percent to 32 percent. The percentage of people who think the law will improve care stayed flat, at 14 percent, down from 22 percent when the question was first asked as the law was still being written in late 2009.

Despite skepticism that the law will transform the nation’s healthcare system, for good or ill, Americans aren’t apathetic about it. Almost half — 47 percent — say they oppose the law, which would increase federal healthcare spending by tens of billions of dollars a year. Far fewer — 35 percent — support the law as the Obama administration prepares to celebrate the second anniversary of the president’s signature domestic achievement.

The poll, conducted Feb. 16-20, has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.1 percentage points.

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