How to Market Healthcare Reform

Not to sound too anti-democratic or anything, but who cares? The dems have 60 votes in the Senate and control the House. Screw the polling, just pass a decent bill.

Like you said, most Americans really don't have a pressing reason to change, so you're never going to get strong support for a massive healthcare system, but they also won't have a reason to be angry when universal healthcare passes either since most people won't even notice the difference.

If healthcare fails, it's the Dems who will get the blame once again. All we're facing now is a power grab by the "centrists", and the Nelson-Lieberman crowd isn't going to be swayed by polling swings. Edging the poll numbers up by fear-mongering is nice and all, but it's really completely beside the point right now. Either the Dems hammer down and get something done, or they hand the Republicans the first victory in their comeback campaign.

If you have to work that hard to sell the American public on a specific proposed government program, then it's most likely a program that shouldn't be undertaken in the first place.

This is the best public piece I have seen on the subject. Could we put together a bill that includes portability, a plain vanilla health insurance requirement for every insurer to sell, regulations over costs, and a viable alternative to medical litigation?

What planet are you living on? That's absolutely crazy. People with insurance are suspicious of health care reform because they're afraid -- and the Republicans keep saying -- it's going to cost them *more* for the same crappy coverage.

I agree your selling points are more effective, but it's not because people don't care how much it costs, it's because they simply don't trust assurances that it won't end up costing them more, when so many can barely afford their coverage now. Have you ever looked into what people pay for family insurance coverage in this country, even with an employer contribution? It's absolute murder, and the premiums keep going up by leaps and bounds every year.

The cost of health care is rising faster than family incomes or inflation or the growth of GDP. It's takes money which might otherwise go to the financial industry for all it's gyrating nonsense. Pity the banker who has "his" money "stolen" by the health care/insurance industry. Worse yet, families don't get the money to pay their credit card bills and so the go bankrupt.

It's unsustainable on the family level or the national level.

How the reform might control costs?

The Exchange brings insurance offers together, so people can compare. It's the basis of a free market and competition.

The public option provides somewhere people can go when they dislike all the alternatives the private sector provides. If it doesn't exist all the private plans can screw you equally. The public option will create a standard of behavior towards the public that the private insurers will have to live up to.

Bringing everyone into plans the way insurance plans always do will spread the costs more than it currently does and thereby lower cost to each individual. It also ensures everyone can pay with insurance and therefore be able to get proper care from lower-cost points than only the ER room.

Insuring everyone will help everyone be healthier (more well) and more able to get back to the grindstone to produce more GDPs and that will make the financial industry and bankers wealthier. Isn't that what we all truly want?

Some of the reform does NOT revolve around the public option or insuring everyone. Some of the reform forces private insurers to behave better towards their customers. Therefore, even those people who won't ever see the public option will see improvements in relations with their own insurance co.

It's a good thing.

Costs will go up with government health care. Don't listen to a word liberals say. Costs in health care will always rise: technology and world trade can't reduce costs through cheaper labor and market competition, not like they do with cars or TVs. A doctor's time, in terms of price, stays pretty much the same. It seems more expensive because things like cars and TVs get cheaper.

Of course, costs are also rising because health care providers raise insurance premiums to make up the hits they take via Medicare/Medicaid. They lose money when they provide service through Medicare/Medicaid, so they make up the price elsewhere.

Things will only get worse when Obama promises lower costs: it will mean you get less advanced treatments, which are cheaper. You'll have to pay for any cutting edge treatments.