What Information Elicits Policy Enthusiasm? Older Americans, the ACA, and Medicare

Target populations do not always recognize policy benefits. This may be particularly true when policy design, informational environment, or political conflict make a policy's benefits difficult to discern, which is the case for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Although many groups benefited from the ACA, the attitudes of seniors-one important target population of the ACA-remain unexplored.

A survey of 1,206 Americans age 65 and older was fielded in the summer of 2021 to assess the effect of three informational treatments about the ACA's benefits-extending the life of the Medicare trust fund, filling the Medicare Part D donut hole, and reducing the number of uninsured people-on the ACA's favorability and on attitudes about its future and about party leadership in the domain of health care.

Priming individuals about the ACA's benefits improved its favorability, particularly for subgroups generally opposed to the ACA, such as Republicans and those high in racial resentment. Attitude changes about the future of the ACA were limited to benefits directly focused on seniors. There were no broader spillover effects on attitudes about partisan health care leadership.

The findings have implications for research on the ACA, policy feedback effects, self-interest, and priming effects.