Poll: Two-thirds of uninsured to get health coverage by deadline

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Fewer than half of U.S. citizens without health insurance say they plan to buy it specifically from a healthcare exchange, a national survey has found.

Overall, nearly two-thirds of uninsured Americans say they will get health insurance by the Jan. 1 deadline to avoid paying a mandated fine, Gallup said in a poll released Monday.

The survey, conducted Sept. 17-26, also found 31 percent of those 18 to 29 were not aware the Affordable Care Act required them to have health insurance.

Some 83 percent of the survey respondents said they were aware of the requirement, but only 68 percent among people who said they were uninsured.

Half of the insured said they were "not at all familiar" with the exchanges.

One in four said they would pay the fine.

The survey talked to 5,009 adults living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The margin of error was 2 percentage points.