Americans Continue to Rate Exchange Rollout Negatively

Despite fixes made to the health insurance marketplaces, two-thirds of Americans (66%) surveyed in mid-January say the opening has “not gone well” or worse, according to a new Associated Press-GfK survey.


Despite fixes made to the health insurance marketplaces, two-thirds of Americans (66%) surveyed in mid-January say the opening has “not gone well” or worse, according to a new Associated Press-GfK survey. However, this is a 10% decrease from a December poll, which found 76% of Americans polled held such a view.

Just 4% rated the rollout as going “extremely/very well” and 17% rated it as “somewhat well” in the polling period of Jan. 17-21. That compares with 3% reporting “extremely/very well” and 9% “somewhat well” Dec. 5-9, the survey of 1,060 adults found.

Beyond the low rating, a large majority (85%) of respondents have not tried to sign up for health insurance through the exchanges. Of those who visited the exchanges, 71% reported experiencing problems while attempting to sign up for insurance coverage. Despite fixes made to the website, that number increased 9% from 62% in the Dec. 5-9 period. No distinction is made between state- or federally-run marketplaces.

GfK Public Affairs and Corporate Communications conducted the Jan. 17-21 survey with a sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.