Seniors with Medicare are torn on their feelings about the Supreme Court upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
A survey by Extend Health, operator of the nation's largest private Medicare exchange, found that 46 percent of female respondents view the Supreme Court ruling as "positive," compared to just 27 percent of male respondents.
Most men, at 62 percent, think the ruling is "negative," compared to less women at 38 percent.
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Additionally, 40 percent of senior women say that the fact that the ruling upheld provisions closing the Part D prescription drug coverage gap, known as the "donut hole," influenced how they felt about the ruling, compared to just 26 percent of senior men who felt similarly.
Under the PPACA, individuals who fall into the donut hole receive a 50 percent discount on the cost of brand-name prescription drugs, with that discount increasing in future years until it reaches 75 percent in 2020.
"The health care reform law is a divisive issue for many Americans, but seniors on Medicare apparently line up along gender lines," says Bryce Williams, managing director of Extend Health.
"Based on comments made by our survey respondents, the reason for the different views of women versus men is based in part on women's experience as caregivers to multiple generations: their children, their parents and their spouses. Perhaps this accounts for the difference in how women view the health care reform law and its goal of insuring more Americans."
The survey of 441 seniors on Medicare was fielded from June 29-July 2.
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