WyBlog

HealthCare.gov may be functioning better, but consumer and corporate acceptance of Obamacare may continue to bedevil the law, according to two recent surveys.

The Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook survey, a quarterly poll of corporate finance chiefs, found that a significant percentage of companies will hold back on hiring full-time workers because of the impact of the Affordable Care Act.

Nearly half of U.S. companies said they are reluctant to hire full-time employees because of the law. One in five respondents said they are likely to hire fewer employees, another one in 10 may lay off current employees and 44 percent of companies said they will consider reducing health benefits to current employees in response to the health care law.

"I doubt the advocates of this legislation would have foretold the negative impact on employment," said Campbell R. Harvey, a professor of finance at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. "The impact on the real economy is massive. Nearly one-third of firms may either terminate employees or hire fewer people in the future as a direct result of ACA."

Americans who already have health insurance are blaming President Barack Obama's health care overhaul for their rising premiums and deductibles, and overall 3 in 4 say the rollout of coverage for the uninsured has gone poorly.

An Associated Press-GfK poll finds that health care remains politically charged going into next year's congressional elections. Keeping the refurbished HealthCare.gov website running smoothly is just one of Obama's challenges, maybe not the biggest.

The poll found a striking level of unease about the law among people who have health insurance and aren't looking for any more government help. Those are the 85 percent of Americans who the White House says don't have to be worried about the president's historic push to expand coverage for the uninsured.

In the survey, nearly half of those with job-based or other private coverage say their policies will be changing next year — mostly for the worse. Nearly 4 in 5 (77 percent) blame the changes on the Affordable Care Act. . . . Disapproval of Obama's handling of health care topped 60 percent in the poll.