Interest in ObamaCare rises despite problems

Interest in the Affordable Care Act has risen, even before before its insurance marketplace launched last month, despite the problems plaguing HealthCare.gov.

Forty-four percent of uninsured people in the U.S. view the new health insurance option more favorably, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday. That’s compared to 37 percent of the uninsured who held the same view in September.

Among the general public, support for the law also rose from 44 percent in September to 47 percent in October.

Overall, however, more than half of the public still opposed the three-year-old healthcare law.

Reuters/Ipsos surveyed 12,000 people, of which about 1,100 were uninsured.

{mosads}More people who lack insurance also say they’re very likely to buy insurance through their state’s healthcare exchange, with more than 22 percent saying they intend to now, compared to about 19 percent a month ago.

The poll is good news for ObamaCare supporters, and was released as the Obama administration continues to battle the heavy pushback over the law’s rollout.

HealthCare.gov, which hosts the insurance marketplace, has been experiencing technical problems since its Oct. 1 unveiling. Repeated outages, holes in the sign-up process and long wait times have impeded people from applying for the insurance.

The Health and Human Services Department aims to have the website running properly by Nov. 30.

On Wednesday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies before Congress for the second time in a week on the shaky rollout.