In Brief: Poll Shows Little Working Knowledge Of ACA; Kaiser Makes Strides In Controlling Hypertension

Poll Shows Little Working Knowledge Of Exchanges, ACA

A new Field Poll regarding attitudes toward the Affordable Care Act in California indicates few of the state's residents have much knowledge about the changes being wrought by the law.

According to the polling data, only a quarter of Californians said they had a lot of information regarding Covered California, the state's insurance exchange. Only a third of those surveyed knew whether they were eligible for tax credits when purchasing coverage via Covered California. Nearly 40% did not know whether they were eligible or not.

Covered California opens for enrollment on Oct. 1. It is planning an extensive media campaign in the coming weeks to educate residents about the services it offers.

Overall, 53% of Californians say they strongly or somewhat support the ACA, with support significantly higher in Los Angeles County and the Bay Area. A total of 29% of the respondents say they strongly oppose the ACA, and 9% oppose it somewhat, with opposition stronger in rural and inland areas. Democrats are far more likely to support the ACA than Republicans. Those who have no political affiliation support the law by a 54% to a 37% margin.

Those trend lines have changed little since the Field Poll began surveying on the ACA in 2010.

The survey of 1,687 residents was undertaken in late July, and was conducted in English, Spanish and five other languages. It has a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.

Kaiser Makes Strides In Controlling Hypertension

Kaiser Permanente's Northern California division has demonstrated considerable success in controlling hypertension in its patient population, the organization announced.

Kaiser enrollees in Northern California diagnosed with hypertension were placed in a special registry to improve monitoring – the numbers identified with the health issue nearly doubled between 2001 and 2009 as a result. They also received single-pill medication therapy, which keeps costs down and improves adherence.

According to Kaiser data, 80.4% of its Northern California membership has its hypertension under control, versus the nationwide mean of 64.1%. Kaiser dramatically improved its rates from when it launched the hypertension control program in 2001 – at that time, less than 44% of its members' hypertension was under control.

"This successful program is evidence that large-scale and comprehensive monitoring and intervention systems can improve blood pressure control," said Marc G. Jaffe, M.D., an endocrinologist who heads Kaiser's cardiovascular risk program in Northern California. “More importantly, this model has tremendous potential to improve the health of millions of people. High blood pressure is an important modifiable risk factor for life-threatening llnesses including heart disease, stroke and
kidney disease.”

The findings of the Kaiser program were published in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.