Poll: Majority want government to ensure health-care coverage

From 2000, the year Gallup first asked the question, to 2008, a clear majority of Americans (averaging 62%) agreed with the government responsibility premise. But by November 2009, after newly elected President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats had been working for months on healthcare legislation aimed at achieving universal coverage, the percentage of Americans believing government was responsible dropped below the majority level. Agreement generally declined in the years thereafter, reaching a low of 42% in 2013.

Since 2014, however, as the elements of the 2010 Affordable Care Act have been taking effect, Americans’ views that the government should ensure universal coverage have been rising, and this has been the majority sentiment in each of the past three years.