Some people are choosing not to purchase the required policies because of their political beliefs.
As the next open enrollment period for the required health care reform insurance coverage on Saturday is rapidly approaching, the Obama administration is hopeful that the millions of people who chose not to purchase their policies for this year will take the necessary action to protect themselves and their families next year.
Research has shown that strong partisan politics are keeping some Americans from enrolling in the exchanges.
The National Bureau of Economic Research has now published an analysis from Washington state, which is one of the states in which the health care reform was embraced the most quickly after it had passed. The study was conducted by the University of Washington. The survey involved the participation of 40,000 households in the state that received the questions in the mail between December 2013 and January 2014. That was right in the center of the original open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act’s required coverage. Its purpose was to determine the interest in the insurance exchange for that state among those who were potentially eligible to use it.
The researchers asked participants about their willingness and certainty about using the health care reform website.
The researchers attempted to obtain the political views of the respondents by asking whether or not the participants were in agreement with the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act, and which party they felt was responsible for having shut down the government at the start of October 2013. They also asked about the certainty of the respondents with regards to whether or not they would be enrolling in the insurance exchange, about their financial situation, health needs, and their insurance coverage at the time.
Among those who were certain that they would be shopping with the insurance exchange (approximately 7 percent of about 4,000 returned responses), there was a greater likelihood to agree with the decision of the Supreme Court, and a greater likelihood of blaming the Republicans for the shutdown of the government.
The researchers also found that those who felt that the Democrats were responsible for the shutdown and did not agree with the Supreme Court decision about the health care reform not any more likely to shop using the exchange even if they were currently uninsured, suggesting that politics were in the way of coverage.