[caption id=”attachment_121465″ align=”aligncenter” width=”5616″] (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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The Supreme Court is expected to rule within the next two weeks on a case involving federal Obamacare subsidies that could impact the health coverage of as many as 6.4 million people, but most Americans don’t know anything about it, according to a poll released Tuesday.
According to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation’s tracking poll, about seven in 10 say they’ve heard only a little or nothing at all about King v. Burwell, which challenges federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
The court will decide whether it is illegal for the government to provide subsidies in the 34 states that have not set up their own exchanges are are using HealthCare.gov, the federal health insurance marketplace, instead.
“Right now, the public is not really aware of this, and they’re not thinking this has much to do with their lives,” Mollyann Brodie, who heads Kaiser’s polling operation, told the Washington Post. She said these numbers have not shifted much over time either, not gaining traction as the court’s decision grew closer.
But when poll respondents are given information by Kaiser about what will happen if the court rules against the Obama administration, Brodie said, “their gut instinct is that it doesn’t make sense that residents in some states would get something different from residents in other states.”
About 63 percent said Congress should pass a law to ensure people in all states are eligible for subsidies if the court bars that financial assistance in federal marketplace states, according to the poll.
This splits slightly along party lines. About 80 percent of Democrats and independents want to see Congressional action, while Republicans are more divided. About half of the respondents who identified as GOP, 49 percent, said Congress should not pass a law and 38 percent favored action.
