Country: United States
Survey Organization: Social Science Research Solutions
Field Dates: July 15, 2013, to September 8, 2013
Sample: Nationally representative sample of 6,132 adults, ages 19 to 64
Sample Size: Overall, 2,895 interviews were conducted with respondents on landline telephones and 3,237 interviews were conducted on cellular phones, including 1,957 with respondents who live in households with no landline telephone access
Interview Method: The data are weighted to correct for the stratified sample design, the overlapping landline and cellular phone sample frames, and disproportionate nonresponse that might bias results. The data are weighted to the U.S. 19-to-64 adult population by age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, household size, geographic division, and population density using the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey and by household telephone use using the CDC’s 2012 National Health Interview Survey.
The resulting weighted sample is representative of the approximately 186.1 million U.S. adults ages 19 to 64. Data for income, and subsequently for federal poverty level, were imputed for cases with missing data utilizing a standard regression imputation procedure.
The survey has an overall margin of sampling error of +/– 1.8 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. The landline portion of the survey achieved a 22 percent response rate and the cellular phone component achieved an 18 percent response rate.
The Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces are opening for enrollment on October 1, 2013. The Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Marketplace Survey, 2013, finds that only two of five adults are aware of the marketplaces or of potential financial help that may be available to them to pay for plans purchased though the marketplaces. However, three of five adults who might be eligible for these new options said they were likely to take advantage of them. The survey also finds broad support for state expansion of the Medicaid program, even in states that have not yet decided to expand their programs. While outreach and education are critical to ensuring that those eligible for the new coverage options will enroll, the survey results suggest that eligible Americans will likely take advantage of the law’s insurance reforms in the months and years to come.
