Public opinion remains equally split on the Affordable Care Act. The latest monthly tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that 42 percent of Americans hold a favorable opinion of the law while 43 percent oppose it. Those numbers have not changed much in months.
To help Kansans better understand the law, the problems it was intended to address and the issues that prompted Kansas and 25 other states to challenge it in court, the Kansas Health Institute recently talked to several experts. Excerpts from those conversations are featured in this collection of short videos. Each offers an informed perspective on the law and the controversy that surrounds it as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to rule on its constitutionality.
The videos were produced with funding from the Kansas Health Foundation, the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, the REACH Healthcare Foundation, the Sunflower Foundation and the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City. They were produced and edited by University of Kansas film professor Kevin Willmott and Miller Meiers, a Lawrence communications firm.
Maynard Oliverius, CEO, Stormont-Vail HealthCare
“The system we have in this country is a failure because people do not have equal access to care.”
Sandy Praeger, Kansas Insurance Commissioner
“If we’re going to get our arms around the cost, I think we have to get everyone in the market.”
Derek Schmidt, Kansas Attorney General
“Congress may not exercise a power that it does not have … and that’s what we’re fighting about in terms of the individual mandate.”
Matt All, General Counsel and Vice President, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas
“The problems of health care really are the problems of insurance.”
Suzanne Schrandt, Senior Analyst, Kansas Health Institute
“Polls tell us that people really do not understand what’s in the law.”
Jay Angoff, Acting Regional Director, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
“When people understand what’s in the act, they like it.”