Only One In 10 Americans Say Obamacare Helping Them, But Curiosity About The Law Growing: Bankrate Survey

Only nine percent of Americans say their health insurance situation improved in the past year, according to a Bankrate.com (NYSE:RATE) report issued Tuesday. But the failed Republican effort to derail Obamacare has heightened curiosity about the new law.

Though the health insurance exchanges opened about a month ago and hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent advertising them, almost half of the uninsured in the U.S. still say they do not know where to find information on how the health care law affects them.

About two in three uninsured Americans have become more curious about the Affordable Care Act since the exchange opened on Oct. 1, according to the survey, while 51 percent of the population -- an equal number of Republicans and Democrats -- has become more curious about the law in the past month.

"I would say that's a very positive popular reaction," Judy Feder, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University and fellow at the Urban Institute, said.

"It hasn't made anybody more negative, which is huge given the degree of attention and concern about the challenges of getting the exchanges under way. "People seem to be aware that there is now something to be gotten and have not been pushed away by either the complexities or the active, aggressive efforts to discourage people."

The Bankrate survey also found that 36 percent of Americans say their health care costs have risen in the past year, while 5 percent say costs have decreased.

Thirty-eight percent of the uninsured feel more negative about the health care law than they did a year ago.