More than three years after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, public confusion about the 2010 health care reform law is widespread, according to a survey released Tuesday.
Forty-two percent of those surveyed by the Kaiser Family Foundation didn't know the status of the law, answered incorrectly when asked about PPACA's status or declined to respond. Some 59% answered correctly that PPACA is the law of the land and is being implemented.
For example, 12% of respondents said the law was repealed by Congress. While the House of Representatives last year passed a repeal measure, the Senate did not act on the proposal.
In addition, 7% of respondents said the Supreme Court overturned the law.
In fact, the Supreme Court in June 2012 let stand a key provision in the law that will require most U.S. residents to enroll in a qualified health care plan starting next year or pay a financial penalty. The justices, though, struck down a provision that would have withdrawn federal funding of a state's Medicaid program if a state declined to expand it to more lower-income individuals as laid out by PPACA.
Another 23% of respondents in the Kaiser survey said they didn't know the status of the law or declined to answer the question.
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Conversations with friends and relatives are the predominant way respondents said they have been getting information about the law.
For example, 40% said they have received information about the law in the past 30 days from friends and family, while 30% said they received such information from newspapers, radio news or other online news.
Just 9% of respondents said they have received information about the law in the past 30 days from federal agencies.
The telephone survey — conducted April 15-20— is based on the responses of 1,002 adults 18 years and older.