- The memo analyzes survey data from 21 respondents regarding support for government-run healthcare. It finds that most young adults (ages 20-40) support some level of government involvement in healthcare, even if they are less supportive of the Affordable Care Act specifically. - Support for the ACA is higher among Democrats, independents, minorities, and individuals whose healthcare costs have decreased or stayed the same since the ACA was implemented. Republicans and those whose costs increased are less supportive. - While young adults prefer government subsidies for health insurance over the ACA, they generally favor some level of government involvement in healthcare.

1. Memorandum
Date: 6/7/2015
To: Patrick Bell
From: Jason Newell
Regarding: Interpreting the Survey (Client: Covered California—Consulting Firm: Newell
Consulting Inc.)
Executive Summary
The purpose of this memo is to determine support for government run health care. However, I
would like to address a potential issue: the sample used for this survey (21 respondents included)
has a mean age of 30.6—the age range for young adults is generally considered to be 20-40.
While it is possible for Newell Consulting to gauge the sentiments of support for government run
health care by age, the support results will likely be spurious. As discussed in our meeting, I only
have the ability to manipulate and draw conclusions for the data, due to my company not actually
forming and conducting the survey itself. That is why we need to redirect the focus of the age
portion of the survey to analyze the preferences of young adults toward government run health
care—if needed, we can request more surveys to be conducted in order to determine support
from other age groups. By the way, the other pertinent demographics, such as political ideology,
will be included in the analysis. The recommendations of Newell Consulting will be provided
after the data analysis portion. Let us begin.
Political Ideology and Support for ACA
Respondents were asked to choose a political ideology. In order to draw compelling conclusions
between political ideology and support for the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), I saw it fitting to
create a scatter plot with political ideology on the x-axis and support for the ACA on the y-axis.
The purpose of this comparison was to determine support for the ACA based on ideological
identifiers. One thing to note, however: the sample contained 7 Strong Democrats, 5 Democrats,
4 Independents, 2 Republicans, 1 Strong Republican, and 0 N/A. The point being: the sample has
12 Democratic leaning individuals, and 4 Republican leaning individuals, therefore, the sample
is likely to be skewed in favor of support for the ACA. Please take a look at the following chart to
understand the relationship between political ideology and support for the ACA. Please refer to
the scale below the scatter plot in order to understand the numbers that coincide with their
respective term, i.e., Strong Democrat is “5” on the x-axis. (Quick note: each data graphic will
include a key—please refer to it in order to make sense of the graphic. Moreover, the size of the
data points in the graph correlates to a value—the higher the value, the larger the data point.
And, vote totals will be included in bold and parenthesis, to the right of the terms included in the
key. Lastly, if there is not a value for “don’t know,” then it will not be included in the charts).

2. Key:
Y Axis-Support for Gov. X Axis-Political Ideology
5=Strongly Support (9) 6=Strong Democrat (7)
4=Support (5) 5=Democrat (5)
3=Neutral (2) 4=Independent (4)
2=Against (1) 3=Republican (3)
1=Strongly Against (4) 2=Strong Republican (1)
1=N/A (1)
First of all, the support trend is relatively clear: the farther you go the right, the support score for
the ACA increases, with the highest concentration of support being in the top right corner. More
important, independent support, under number 4 of political ideology, has 50% of respondents
under the Strongly Support or Support category—skewing the sample even further in favor of
support for the ACA. On the other end of the political spectrum, support is absent: not one single
Republican supports the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The implications behind this
chart are twofold: 1) Democrats and Independents, for the most part, support the measure, and 2)
Republicans across the board do not favor it. However, when respondents were asked whether or
not they support the subsidization of health insurance rates, both Republican and Independent
support increased. This trend can be seen in the following chart:

3. Key:
Y Axis-Support of Sub. HC X Axis-Political Ideology
5=Strongly Support (11) 6=Strong Democrat (7)
4=Support (6) 5=Democrat (5)
3=Neutral (1) 4=Independent (4)
2=Against (0) 3=Republican (3)
1=Strong Against (3) 2=Strong Republican (1)
1=N/A (1)
While Democratic support remained relatively the same—there was a slight uptick, when
compared to the previous chart, in Democratic support (5), with zero respondents answering with
neutral. In addition, 3 of the 4 independent respondents supported government subsidized health,
an increase of 1. What’s more, Republican support changed as well: 1 Republican respondent
was against the ACA, but supported government run health care. I believe that it is safe to
assume that dissatisfaction with the ACA, in terms of its construction or the manner in which it
was implemented, is having a quantifiable impact on its support scores. Nonetheless, the way the
question was worded may have caused the increase: the key portion of the sentence is support the
subsidization of health insurance rate, not on overhaul of the private system. The question could
be perceived as the government covering the health insurance rates, but not necessarily
mandating that a person purchase health care. Despite my conclusion of the ACA being
unpopular, the increase in support may be due to the ambiguity of terms.
Ethnicity and Support for ACA
Respondents were given the option to disclose their race—I created a chart that shows the
correlation between ethnicity and support for the ACA. The results can be seen in the following
chart:

4. Key:
Y Axis-Support of ACA X Axis-Ethnicity
5=Strongly Support (9) 1=White (12)
4=Support (5) 2=African-American (2)
3=Neutral (2) 3=Hispanic (3)
2=Against (1) 4=Asian (1)
1=Strongly Against (4) 5=N/A (3)
White support for the implementation of the ACA stands at 58%--far below African-American
support, which stands at 100%, and 8 percentage points below Hispanic support. Individuals that
did not disclose their race supported the ACA 100%. What can be seen from the graph is that
white support is somewhat divided—while in contrast, combined minority support sits at 66%,
which is 2/3rd in favor of the ACA. The N/A choice is a mystery, but there is a 33% chance that
one of three identifies as a minority (if the N/A category is excluded, and minority respondents,
6, are divided by the known total, 18). An assumption can be made, from the 33%, that one
minority is included in the N/A demographic. If this is inference is accepted, then minority
support would jump up to 71%, and white support would jump up—assuming the other two are
white—to 64%, moving support from whites and minorities into a positive opinion of the ACA.
Nonetheless, for the sake of certainty, let us go with the numbers stated—this data highlights
elevated minority support for the ACA.
Age and Support for ACA
Respondents also disclosed their age, which allowed Newell Consulting to attempt to draw a
correlation between age and support for the ACA. The following chart elucidates the correlation
between age and support:
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
SupportforACA
Ethnicity
Ethnicity andSupport for ACA

5. Key:
Y Axis-Support for ACA X Axis-Age
5=Strongly Support (9) 1=20s (11)
4=Support (5) 2=30s (8)
3=Neutral (2) 3=40s (1)
2=Against (1) 4=50s (1)
1=Strongly Against (4)
Before delving into the data, the important thing to disclose is the fact that the data is skewed:
the mean age is 30.6, and the median is 28. The point being: as mentioned in the executive
summary, the majority of respondents reside in what is considered the young adult phase. Due to
this, drawing conclusions about adults as a whole, which includes young adults, middle-aged
adults, and the elderly, would be inaccurate. Therefore, the data should used to draw conclusions
about the preferences of young adults, essentially disregarding the two outliers (which can be
seen on the chart).
The applicable data, i.e., individuals that are between the ages of 20-40, is cogent: 63% of
respondents in their 20s support the ACA, while 75% of respondents in their 30s support the
ACA. If you look at the cross tabulation table, located in the “Demographics Cross Tabulation”
section below (located on page 8), the support for the ACA is lower than support for government
subsidized insurance rates. Individuals in their 20s are 9% less supportive of the ACA when
compared with government subsidies, and individuals in their 30s are 12% less supportive when
the same cross tab is analyzed. Once again, the support for government subsidies is higher than
support for the ACA—the inference that can drawn is that young adults are largely in favor of
government run health care, but the ACA, an implemented form of government run health care,
is less popular than the preference regarding government subsidizing insurance rates. Regardless,
young adults are in favor of some government involvement in the health care system, even
though it is to vary degrees, depending on nature of the survey question.

6. Health Care Cost and Support for ACA
Respondents also were asked to disclose if their health care costs have changed since the
implementation of the ACA. The following pie chart shows the reponses to the aforementioned
question:
The totals are as follows: 47.61% of respondents said “yes, it increased,” 33.33% of respondents
said cost “stayed the same,” and 19.05% said it decreased. In order to make sense of this data, I
made a comparative argument by comparing price variation and support for the ACA—to see
whether or not price fluctuations impacted public opinion. Take a look at the chart below:

7. Key:
Y Axis-Support of ACA X Axis-Health Care Cost
5=Strongly Support (9) 1=Yes it Decreased (4)
4=Support (5) 2=Stayed the Same (7)
3=Neutral (2) 3=Yes, it Increased (10)
2=Against (1)
1=Strong Against (4)
What’s important to note here is: every individual under price decreased supports the ACA.
However, it may be possible that the type of health care someone has impacts their preferences,
as 3 of the 4 respondents have government run health care. Moreover, only 4 of the 10
respondents who had their prices increase supported the ACA, indicating a possible disapproval
due to personal price increases—3 of the 4 “strongly against” had their prices increase. And, 6 of
the 7 prices “stayed the same” respondents supported the ACA. Overall, it appears that “price
increased” has a strong correlation to disapproval of the ACA as a result of what is perceived to
be a rise in cost due to its implementation.

8. Demographics Cross Tabulation
Personal Variables
Support or Strong
Support for Sub. Health
Care (%)
Support or Strong
Support for Affordable
Care Act (%)
Support or Strong
Support for
Undocumented
Immigrants Having
Health Care (%)
AGE
20s 72% 63% 27%
30s 87% 75% 37%
40s 100% 0% 100%
50s 100% 100% 100%
POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
StrongDemocrat 100% 100% 43%
Democrat 100% 80% 20%
Independent 66% 33% 33%
Republican 33% 0% 33%
StrongRepublican 0% 0% 0%
N/A 100% 100% 100%
ETHNICITY
White 81% 58% 25%
Black 50% 100% 50%
Hispanic 66% 66% 33%
Asian 0% 0% 0%
N/A 100% 100% 66%
TYPE OF COVERAGE
Private Insurance 76% 69% 38%
State-RunHC
(Medicare/Medicaid/HBE 100% 60% 40%
No Insurance 66% 66% 0%
As requested by your office, we cross tabulated what we believed to be the most important
demographic characteristics—the cross tab shows support for the three separate survey
questions. One stat that has not yet been covered is “Type of Coverage” and support for the
ACA, subsidized health care, and undocumented immigrant having health care. Under “Support
or Strong Support for Sub. Health Care,” respondents with private insurance were 76% in favor
of government subsidized health care, but this dips 7 percentage points if cross tabbed with the
ACA. Now, those with a form of “State Run HC,” such as Medicare and Medicaid, supported
government subsidies 100%, but 60% disapproved of the ACA. (Support for undocumented
immigrants receiving health care dropped in all three categories to below 50%.) And 66% of
those with “no insurance” supported both government subsidized health care and the ACA. One
thing is clear here: the ACA is more unpopular than the hypothetical notion of government

9. subsidizing health care costs.
Factors Disregarded Due to Error or Uniformity
The two survey questions below were disregarded for varying reasons. First of all, the wording
of the following question, “what is your education level,” is not absolutely clear as it can relate
to level of completion, or current level. As a result, respondents may have given an incorrect
answer, and due to this possibility of error, I have decided to shelve this data.
The following question, “did you vote in the 2014 midterms,” was disregarded due to uniformity.
Only one no vote exists, leading to nearly uniform responses that will not likely impact anything
in a cross tab or scatter plot. Furthermore, the survey company included the term “Presidential
Election” in parenthesis next to the date “Nov. 4th 2014,” which is the incorrect date.
Respondents may have believed that they were either 1) responding to whether or not they voted
in the 2012 Presidential Election, or 2) whether or not they voted in the 2014 Midterm Elections.

10. Recommendation
After analyzing the date, my recommendations are as follows (in a list format):
1) Ideological identifiers play an enormous role in opinions on the ACA. As stated earlier, not
one Republican approves of the law. Nonetheless, 75% of Independents, 80% of Democrats, and
100% of Strong Democrats support the ACA, leaving room for optimism. Independents are a
large part of the electorate, so if 75% support the ACA, then continuing to outwardly support the
measure, as your organization does, will not hinder its appeal. The dissatisfaction is too partisan
for opponents to change anything at this point in time.
2) Support of government subsidized health care is more popular than the ACA. However, this
does not necessarily mean that these respondents are in favor of government run health care. The
ambiguity is a bit worrisome, but there is support for government subsidizing health care cost.
Now, whether it is support for private or public health care cannot be determined.
3) Respondents in their 20s and 30s largely support both the ACA and governments subsidized
health care. As a result, these age demographics should be targeted by your media campaign in
order to maintain support—social media is always a good place to drum up support and outreach,
especially for younger generations.
4) Minority support for the ACA, minus the Asian demographic, is high. Furthermore, minorities
strongly support government subsidized health care. Whites, on the other hand, are less likely to
be in favor of the ACA. There appears to be a racial divide in terms of support for the ACA—the
divide does not extend to preferences for government subsidized health care however.
5) Increasing costs is a problem for the ACA. If costs do not come down, I fear an increase in its
disapproval. In your media campaign, consumers need to be reassured that prices are eventually
going to fall.

11. 6) Lastly, support for undocumented immigrant health care is too low at this moment to drum up
support—this should not be included in the media campaign.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to our next meeting, where we can discuss the
results.

12. Data Supplement (as requested)
Do you support the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care)?)
5. Strongly Support (9) 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5
4. Support (5) 4/4/4/4/4
3. Neutral (2) 3/3
2. Against (1) 2
1.Strongly Against (4) 1/1/1/1
Don’t know
Mean: 3.6
Median: 4
Mode: 5
Range: 5
Interquartile Range: 25th percentile-2.5/50th percentile 4/75th percentile 5/Interquartile: 2.5
Variance: 2.55526
Standard Deviation: 1.59852
Do you believe the government should subside health insurance rates?
5. Strongly Agree (11) ME= 10.9%
4. Agree (6) ME=9.9%
3. Neutral (1)=4.6%
2. Disagree(0)
1.Strongly Disagree (3) 7.6%
Don’t know
Mean: 4.05
Median: 5
Mode: 5
Range: 5
Interquartile Range: 25th percentile-4/50th percentile4.5/75th percentile 5/Interquartile: 1
Variance: 1.95
Standard Deviation: 1.36
Have you noticed the cost of health insurance change since the implementation of the
Affordable Care Act?
1. Yes, it increased. (10)
3. Yes, it decreased. (4)

13. 2. Stayed the same (7)
Mean: 1.71
Median: 2
Mode: 1
Range:
Interquartile Range: 25th percentile-1/50th percentile-2 /75th percentile-2 /Interquartile: 1
Variance: 0.61
Standard Deviation:0.78
Do you think undocumented immigrants should be included in the Affordable Care Act?
6. Strongly Agree (4) ME=8.6%
5. Agree(2) ME= 6.4%
4. Neutral (0)
3. Disagree (4) ME= 8.6%
2.Strongly Disagree (4) ME=8.6%
1. Not Sure (7) ME=10.39%
Mean: 2.9
Median: 2
Mode: 1
Range:
Interquartile Range: 25th percentile-1 /50th percentile 2 /75th percentile 5 /Interquartile: 4
Variance: 3.6
Standard Deviation: : 3.8
Demographic Questions
What kind of health insurance do you have?
Medicare (0)
Medicaid (4) 8.6%
Private Insurance (13)
Health Benefit Exchange (1) 4.7%
No Insurance (3) 7.7%
How old are you?
20s=27, 28,27,25,22, 26, 23, 27, 23, 26, 24 (11)
30s=30, 37, 32, 33, 32, 33, 38, 33 (8)
40s=46 (1)
50s=50 (1)

14. Mean: 30.6
Median: 28
Mode: 27, 33
Range:
Interquartile Range: 25th percentile-/50th percentile /75th percentile /Interquartile:
What is your ethnicity?
White/Caucasian= (12)
Hispanic= (3)
African-American= (2)
Asian (Mongolian) = (1)
N/A= (3)
What is your education level?
5. High School
4. Associates Degree
3. Bachelor’s Degree (16)
2. Master’s Degree (5)
1. Doctorate
Did you vote on Tuesday, November 4th 2014 (Midterm Election):
Yes (20)
No (1)
What is your political ideology?
5. Strong Democrat (7)
4. Democrat (5)
3. Independent (4)
2. Republican (3)
1. Strong Republican (1)
N/A (1)