People with health insurance sour on ObamaCare, poll finds

People with health insurance are unhappy with the rollout of ObamaCare, and many of them blame the law for changes in their policies, according to a new Associated Press/GfK poll.

The online survey of 1,367 adults found political challenges for President Obama and congressional Democrats among the population they said would largely be unaffected by the new healthcare law – the 85 percent of people who already have health insurance.

{mosads}Nearly half of those who already had coverage through their employer or the private market said their policies would be changing in 2014; 69 percent said they would be paying higher premiums, while nearly three in five said they would face heftier deductibles or co-payments.

The poll underscores the political damage Obama is facing over his claim that “if you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it.” Millions of people received letters from insurance companies informing them that their policy would not be offered in 2014 because it did not conform to regulations under the Affordable Care Act.

Eleven percent of respondents in the poll said their insurance policy was being discontinued, while 14 percent said coverage for their spouses would be restricted or scrapped.

The poll was taken in early December, just after the administration said its fixes had resulted in a website that worked for “the vast majority of users.”

Overall, more than 60 percent disapproved of Obama’s handling of healthcare, although Democrats retained an advantage over Republicans on the issue, 32 percent to 22 percent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.