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Poll: Most Kentuckians Like Expanded Medicaid But Not The Legislation That Made It Happen

Creative Commons

A new poll finds a majority of Kentuckians aren’t happy with the Affordable Care Act, but they do like benefits the legislation made possible.

According to the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky study released Thursday, this disconnect is consistent throughout the state, although people in the more urban areas—Lexington and Louisville—were at least nearly 10 percent more favorable of the ACA.

The foundation’s President Susan Zepeda says the poll found nearly half of people disapprove of the ACA while nearly 4 out of 5 like one of the benefits.

“The biggest difference we found was the number of Kentuckians who strongly supported the expansion of Medicaid that was made possible by the Affordable Care Act,” she said.

Zepeda adds this could be good or bad news for some.

“I guess depending on your point of view about how Kentuckians feel about government involvement this could be either one,” she said.

At nearly 90 percent, the poll found Kentuckians overwhelmingly think providing low-income individuals with health care through Medicaid is important.

The poll also looked at the opinions of a statewide smoking ban, accessibility to healthy foods and physical education requirements for schools.