Half of Americans younger than 64 without health insurance don't intend to get coverage before the enrollment deadline for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.
As of mid-March, only 39 percent of the uninsured were aware that they needed to get health insurance by March 31 or face a fine under the PPACA's individual mandate, according to the poll. When reminded of the deadline and potential penalty, only 40 percent said they will get coverage.
Additionally, the poll found 67 percent of the uninsured reported they haven't attempted to get coverage during the past six months. Of those who have sought coverage, 18 percent said they have tried to sign up for health plans through the PPACA marketplaces, 14 percent have attempted to get Medicaid coverage and 13 percent tried to obtain plans directly from private insurance companies.
As of last week, 5 million people had enrolled in health insurance through the exchanges, according to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. The 2014 open enrollment period for the PPACA exchanges will end next Monday, although the Obama administration has announced the deadline will be extended for people who can demonstrate they tried to enroll but were prevented from doing so by technical issues on the part of HHS or HealthCare.gov.
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