By Cathy Hope

Health reform was not a dominant factor in influencing voters' decisions during the mid-term elections according to the recently released Kaiser health tracking poll. That may be surprising given what we've been hearing about the election being a mandate for repeal of the new law but it is consistent with other polls. The Kaiser poll found health reform came in fourth behind the economy, political party preference and view of the candidates themselves.

Despite millions of dollars being poured into anti-health reform advertisements and mailings, the poll did not find a mandate for action one way or another. The poll also found that several key provisions of the Affordable Care Act remain very popular, even among those who support repeal of all or parts of the law.

Among those who support repeal, a majority of them want to keep insurance companies from denying coverage based on medical history or health condition - although they oppose the personal responsibility provision (aka mandate) that make those prohibitions work with the private health insurance system. They support the gradual closing of the Medicare prescription drug "doughnut hole" and tax credits for small businesses to offer coverage to employees. Given all the overheated rhetoric about the cost of health reform, I thought it was a very positive sign that a majority of those polled support financial subsidies to help low and moderate income Americans purchase coverage.

While the intensity of health reform opponents may have confused some of the newly elected officeholders about what the public wants them to do, hopefully they will get a chance to read the Kaiser poll and listen to more moderate voices before making any rash decisions.