---
title: "Many Americans unsure if the health care law is still in effect"
description: "More than four-in-ten Americans think the new health care law has been repealed, overturned in court or are just unsure whether it remains the law."
date: "2013-08-29"
authors:
  - name: "Bruce Drake"
    job_title: "Former Senior Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/bruce-drake/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/08/29/many-americans-unsure-if-the-health-care-law-is-still-in-effect/"
---

# Many Americans unsure if the health care law is still in effect

Since the passage of President Obama’s 2010 health care law, the Republican-controlled House has voted [40 times to repeal](http://swampland.time.com/2013/08/02/house-oks-40th-effort-to-repeal-health-law/) all or part of it. Now, some Republicans have declared themselves still intent on rolling back the law, with [one strategy being to de-fund it](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-22/defunding-of-health-law-backed-by-80-house-republicans.html) as part of legislation needed to keep the government running after Oct. 1.

[![](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2013/08/FT_Kaiser_Health.png)](http://kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-august-2013/)

As the [Oct. 1 launch date approaches](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/states-scramble-to-get-health-care-laws-insurance-marketplaces-up-and-running/2013/08/24/8c3b5d12-0c0a-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html) under the Affordable Care Act for setting up health insurance marketplaces where uninsured people can shop for coverage, a [Kaiser Health Tracking Poll](http://kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-august-2013/) finds about half (51%) of those surveyed say they don’t have enough information about the ACA to understand how it will impact them and their families.

But the survey, conducted Aug. 15-18, also finds that 44% of Americans are unsure whether ACA remains the law. About three-in-ten (31%) say they don’t know, while 8% think it has been repealed by Congress and 5% believe it was overturned by the Supreme Court (which [upheld the law](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/story/2012-06-28/supreme-court-health-care-ruling/55888742/1) in June by a 5-to-4 decision).

While the Kaiser poll found that overall opinion on the law continued to “tilt negative” in August, with 42% seeing it unfavorably and 37% having a favorable view, a majority (57%) of Americans disapproved of the idea of cutting off funding as a means of stopping the law from being put into effect.