Poll: Majority of Americans See Political Motive Behind Delay of Obamacare Enrollment Till After Elections

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Originally, the Affordable Care Act's open enrollment period for the 2015 plan year was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, October 15, 2014.  However, the start date was later delayed by the Administration to Saturday, November 15, 2014, after the midterm elections held in early November. With the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act less than a month away, HealthPocket conducted a nationwide survey to determine whether the delayed start date of the enrollment period was viewed by the public as politically motivated.  

Over six out of ten Americans surveyed believe the administration's political considerations were the reason for the delay of the enroll period until after the midterm elections. When asked, "Do you think the administration delayed the Obamacare enrollment period from October 15th till after the elections for political reasons?" 63% answered, "Yes, politics influenced the date change." In contrast, only 37% of survey respondents answered, "No, politics weren't behind the date change."

70% more respondents assumed a political motivation behind the post-election enrollment delay than those who did not. The belief in a political motivation was found in the majority of respondents across the major regions of the U.S. with the Northeast, at 65.9% having the largest percentage of respondents answer "Yes, politics influenced the date change."

Overall, women and men had similar portions of respondents believe/disbelieve in a political motivation for the enrollment period change. Approximately 2 percentage points separated the answer selections between the two groups revealing no significant differences in perspective between them.

The modification of the 2015 Obamacare enrollment period has several implications for consumers that are independent of politics. The new period extends into 2015 so those people desiring insurance coverage to become effective January 1st should submit an enrollment by December 15th unless they intend to have an existing health insurance plan to auto-renew.

Those factors affecting the public's perspective on the issue were not solicited by the survey and remain a matter of speculation. The nationwide poll was conducted from October 24 through October 26 of this year. The full results of the survey along with its methodology can be reviewed at "Majority of Americans See Political Motive Behind Delay of Obamacare Enrollment Till After Elections."

HealthPocket.com is a free website that compares and ranks all health insurance plans available to an individual, family, or small business to allow consumers to make their best health plan decision and reduce their out of pocket costs. HealthPocket is nonpartisan and uses only objective data from government, non-profit, and private sources that carry no conditions that might restrict the site from serving as an unbiased resource. HealthPocket, Inc., based in Sunnyvale, California, is an independently managed subsidiary of Health Insurance Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:HIIQ). Learn more at www.HealthPocket.com.

Kev Coleman, Head of Research & Data at HealthPocket, is available for interviews and commentary. To schedule an interview, please contact Ryan Hughes with Shirley & Banister Public Affairs at [email protected] or 703-739-5920 or by cell at 224-723-8688.

SOURCE HealthPocket