Americans strongly support what the new health care law does. But a new poll out today shows we still have ways to go in fully informing the public about the law — particularly on the "individual mandate" in the face of continued right-wing attacks on health reform. Here’s how to talk about it.

The new health care law simply makes sure everyone takes charge of their own care and gets affordable insurance — because when people without it get sick, the costs get passed down to the rest of us. You can keep the coverage you have. Or if you don’t like your plan or don’t have one, you can pick an affordable insurance option to take personal responsibility for yourself and your family.

Having everyone take responsibility for their own care started as a Republican idea and Americans strongly support what the new health care law does.Everyone can take charge of their own care OR the rest of us can keep paying more when people with no health insurance get sick.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Over 60% of Americans support the individual responsibility provision after they are informed most Americans would still get their health coverage through their employers and thus wouldn’t be affected by the mandate.
• Americans’ support for the individual responsibility provision also goes up when they learn that:
  • Without it, people might wait until they are seriously ill to obtain coverage, driving up insurance costs for everyone.
  • Without it, insurers could refuse to cover sick people.
  • People would be excused from having to buy insurance if the cost would consume too large a share of their income.
  • For health insurance to work, it’s necessary to include people who are healthy to help pay for those are sick.
• What’s unpopular is the health care system we had before — Americans overwhelmingly agreed it was broken.
• On health care, the American people trust President Obama more than Republicans in Congress by a 9 point margin.
• The Affordable Care Act is already helping millions of American families and businesses, including:
  • Nearly 90 million Americans who took advantage of the new health law’s prevention benefits last year.
  • Nearly 3 million seniors with Medicare who saved $1.5 billion on their medicines and 24 million who took advantage of the new preventive care benefit last year;
  • 4 million small businesses that can now claim tax credits for providing health coverage to their employees; and
  • Up to 17 million children with pre-existing conditions who now cannot be denied coverage.
  • 2.5 million more young adults who are now covered through their parents’ health insurance as they finish school or look for a job.
    

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