According to a new survey, 64 percent of Americans who are without health insurance have not decided if they will purchase coverage before the Affordable Care Act’s Jan. 1 deadline.
CNBC reports:
Nearly two-thirds of Americans who currently lack health insurance don't know yet if they will purchase that coverage by the Jan. 1 deadline set by the ACA, a new survey revealed Monday.
And less than half of those in the survey released by InsuranceQuotes.com think they'll get better health care after Obamacare takes full effect. Nearly 50 percent believe the ACA will make it more difficult for them to get tests and procedures done in a timely manner, according to the phone survey of 1,001 adult Americans conducted in early May.
Laura Adams, a senior insurance analyst at InsuranceQuotes.com, told CNBC the apparent public uncertainty in regards to the Affordable Care Act "could end up driving up health-insurance costs under the program because not enough healthy people will participate to offset benefits payouts."
The ACA’s system is "predicated on the theory that enough healthy people will enroll and buy insurance so that their premiums will offset the costs of benefits for less healthy people in the same plan."
Adams said she was "shocked" that so many people are still unsure if they will purchase insurance before the January deadline. If more of the healthy population does not enroll, it could cause trouble for the president’s trademark healthcare law.
"If only the sick enroll, it could be very precarious for the industry and the cost of insurance." Adams told CNBC.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, "no one can be turned away" from purchasing private insurance through Obamacare’s health insurance marketplace.