Healthcare has been a hot topic for decades now, but never more in the limelight than with the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
While Gen Z, also known as iGen and Centennials, was mostly too young to catch the nuances of the debate surrounding this legislation during its passage, its members have since undoubtedly experienced its effects either firsthand or by observing family members. We asked Gen Z a series of questions about healthcare accessibility to assess their take on the state of healthcare as it pertains to them personally.
We found that Gen Z is the generation least likely to believe it has access to affordable, quality healthcare. Less than half of Gen Z, 44%, say they have access to this type of health care. In contrast, more than half of Millennials (51%) and Baby Boomers (55%) feel they have this access.
So how does the Affordable Care Act play into this? Gen Z is nearly split on whether they think this legislation has positively or negatively impacted their ability to have access to affordable, quality health care, with 30% saying it has had a negative impact and 33% saying it has had a positive effect.
The biggest finding though is that Gen Z doesn’t appear to be overly set in its thinking about this issue. Forty-two percent report being in the middle on the positive vs. negative implications of access produced by the Affordable Care Act.
When compared to other generations, Gen Z is least likely to see the Affordable Care Act as negatively impacting their ability to get affordable or quality health care, but they are less likely than Millennials to think they have access to affordable, quality health care because of the Affordable Care Act.
The success or failure of the Affordable Care Act has not yet been determined in the minds of Gen Z. As members of this new generation take the reins of purchasing and managing their own health care, they are likely to have more fixed opinions. As it stands though, there is currently no consensus.
Read all the surprising findings from our national study on Gen Z and politics here.
