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Overall, the poll found Americans divided on the question of repeal, with neither side able to claim a majority. Forty-nine percent said the health care law should be repealed completely, while 44 percent said it should be implemented as written. The notion that the law will be implemented with changes, captured in the poll, mirrors a discussion going on behind the scenes in Washington, particularly among some Republicans. "Whoever wins the election, the (health care law) is going to be modified," Mark McClellan, who ran Medicare under former President George W. Bush, said in a recent interview. Congressional Republicans say if tax increases are on the table in a budget negotiation with a re-elected Obama next year, changes to the health care law
-- including possible delays in implementation -- also must be considered. For now, White House officials refuse to be drawn in on that question. Some parts of the law already are in effect; its big coverage expansion for the uninsured doesn't come until 2014. Public opinion about the law itself has barely budged since the summer of 2010, soon after it passed. At the time, 30 percent supported the law. It's now 32 percent. And 40 percent opposed the overhaul. That's now 36 percent. And misconceptions about the law that reigned two years ago continue to live on, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's widely debunked charge that it would create "death panels" to decide on care for the elderly and disabled. In 2010, 39 percent believed the law would set up committees to review individual medical records and decide who gets care paid for by the government. Forty-one percent currently hold that view, according to the poll. The poll asked people to say whether 18 different items were in the law or not and to rate how certain they were about their answers. Just 14 percent were right most of the time and sure of it. Still, knowledge about what the law actually does is growing. More people are aware of provisions that allow adult children to stay on their parents' coverage until age 26, impose insurance mandates on individuals and businesses, and protect those with pre-existing medical conditions. The poll was conducted Aug. 3-13 and involved interviews with 1,334 randomly chosen adults nationwide. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. The survey was conducted online by GfK using its KnowledgePanel sample, which first chose people for the study using randomly generated telephone numbers and home addresses. Once people were selected to participate, they were interviewed online. Participants without Internet access were provided it for free. ___ Online:
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