Health Care Reform: Perceptions of Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans

The Affordable Care Act (also known as the health care reform law) includes provisions that are intended to expand access to insurance, increase consumer insurance protections, improve quality and system performance and curb rising health care costs. Though some of the reforms were effective in 2010, many provisions will be effective January 1, 2014. How well do rural Nebraskans understand what’s in the new law? How do they think the law will affect various groups? Do they think it will be successful at accomplishing its objectives? How do rural Nebraskans currently obtain their health insurance? This paper provides a detailed analysis of these questions. This report details 2,317 responses to the 2013 Nebraska Rural Poll, the eighteenth annual effort to understand rural Nebraskans’ perceptions. Respondents were asked a series of questions about health insurance and their opinions about the new health care reform law. Comparisons are made among different respondent subgroups, that is, comparisons by age, occupation, region, etc. Based on these analyses, some key findings emerged