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82% Rate the Health Care They Receive As Good or Excellent

Voters continue to give high marks to the health care they receive while remaining critical of the overall U.S. health care system. Half also still expect things to get worse under Obamacare.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 82% of Likely U.S. Voters rate the quality of health care they receive as good or excellent. Just five percent (5%) describe that care as poor. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

But only 38% rate the U.S. health care system in general as good or excellent. Still, that’s up six points from a month ago and the most positive assessment of the health care system this year. Twenty-eight percent (28%) think the system is poor. A year ago, 41% rated the health care system positively, while 20% felt it was in poor shape.

Just 28% of voters, however, expect the health care system to get better under the new health care law, consistent with regular surveying since last September. Fifty-one percent (51%) think the health care system will get worse as a result of the law, although that’s down from a recent high of 56% in December. Fourteen percent (14%) expect the system to stay about the same.

Ninety percent (90%) say they have health insurance, and 81% of these voters rate their coverage as good or excellent. That level of satisfaction has changed very little in regular surveys for the past four years. Just three percent (3%) describe their insurance as poor.

Eighty-six percent (86%) of those with health insurance rate the quality of health care they receive as good or excellent. Among voters without health insurance, just 47% are that positive about the care they get.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 11-12, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Despite the Obama administration’s claim that it exceeded its March 31 goal of signing up seven million Americans through new health insurance exchanges, 58% of voters now view the new health care law unfavorably. That’s the highest level of unhappiness in several months.

Women and those under 40 remain less pessimistic about the impact of the health care law than men and older voters are.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of Democrats think the health care system will get better as a result of the law. Eighty-three percent (83%) of Republicans and 57% of voters not affiliated with either major party expect the system to get worse.

All three groups are in general agreement, though, when it comes to the current state of the overall U.S. health care system and the quality of care that they personally receive.

Generally speaking, the more one earns, the more positive they are about the quality of care they personally are getting.

Just 23% of all voters consider the health care law a success so far. Eighty-three percent (83%) think Congress should change the law or repeal it.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) continue to think frivolous lawsuits are driving up the cost of health care, insurance and other products and services. Congress did not include tort reform in the final health care law.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) now expect health care costs to go up under Obamacare

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 11-12, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

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