SAN FRANCISCO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A new statewide poll by researchers with the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that 56 percent of Californians worry that they or a family member may lose their health insurance coverage if the U.S. Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Findings from the poll by the UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) were released Tuesday, at a time when the Congress in the national capital of Washington D.C. now is considering legislation to repeal and replace the ACA, popularly known as Obama Care, after former U.S. President Barack Obama, who signed the national health reform legislation into law in 2010.
Among those who are worried about the future of the ACA, 39 percent say they are "very worried" and 17 percent say they are "somewhat worried."
Concern about losing health coverage varies with household income. Of residents at the lowest end of the income scale, namely less than 20,000 U.S. dollars per year, 77 percent are worried, as are 81 percent of those currently covered by Medi-Cal, the state-wide public program that provides health coverage to low-income adults and children.
By contrast, only about one in three residents with incomes of 100,000 dollars or more express such concerns.
In addition, Latinos (71 percent) and African Americans (67 percent) are somewhat more likely to be concerned about losing health coverage than white non-Hispanics (46 percent) and Asian Americans (50 percent).
Meanwhile, the poll finds public support for the ACA reaching record proportions. Supporters of the ACA now outnumber opponents in California, the most populous state in America, by a greater than two-to-one margin, 65 percent to 26 percent, with 45 percent supporting the law strongly.
Administered by telephone in six languages and dialects on May 4-31, 2017, the poll was conducted on behalf of the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF). Tuesday's release is the first of a two-part series of reports examining California public opinion about the ACA and health insurance coverage issues. Part two, for release Wednesday, focuses on coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
The poll included a large-scale statewide sample of 1,628 California adults, and the margin of error for the results is plus or minus 5 percent.
