Despite formidable efforts by the Democrats to push forward Obama's healthcare plan, a new poll shows Americans are growing increasingly skeptical about it.

Results of a monthly poll conducted by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation suggests a five percent drop in the confidence level of Americans with respect to the insurance coverage, its affordability as well as its accessibility in July, following a slight rise in June.

The drop was even more severe among the American elderly, by 10.4 percentage points.

The study was launched before the town hall debates over the Obama plan began to draw much protest.

"Americans continue to struggle to afford healthcare, and I think they're still feeling pinched by the downturn of the economy, and there's also all the debate in Washington," said Lynn Blewett, director of a University of Minnesota state health data center, which analyzes the data for the foundation, AP reported.

"I think people don't understand what's going on, and so I think there's a little more concern about what's going to happen to the health care system in the future," Blewett added.

Democratic leaders, on the other hand, are concerned about a possible scraping of the "Obama Care" with John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.) saying that a public option, as the plan has become known, is "a must."

"Without a public option, I don't see how we will bring real changes to a system that has made good health care a privilege for those who can afford it," The Huffington Post quoted Sen. Russell Feingold (Wis.).

RB/MB/HGH