Health Reform: Public Has Doubts

In response to a NYTimes article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/health/policy/24voices.html) and associated posted comments today, I have the following comment:

I can understand how some might view this article as slanted, but that is sort of missing the point. The story here is that not everyone is convinced, which is a fact. There are plenty of stories out there about how great Obama is and how great all his policy ideas are. Frankly, I think it's healthy to cast a little doubt now and then.

As for health reform, I agree with those who have stated that it is an extremely complicated issue that cannot be reduced to a soundbyte. However, I think there is a middle ground out there, somewhere in between dumbing everything down to buzzwords and speaking in technical health policy wonk language.

If he wants to sell this plan, Obama is going to have to find a better way to relate to patients, doctors, and healthcare providers across the system. He needs to better understand the root causes underlying these problems-- for example, why are our healthcare costs so high? It's not just because of 'evil' insurers or 'evil' healthcare providers or 'evil' pharmaceutical companies. There's so much more at work here.

If you want to talk about reducing costs, how about we talk about reducing the costs of medical school so that doctors don't graduate with upwards of $100K or even $200K in loan debt. Labor is the single largest cost in a healthcare organization, and yet the same crew touting healthcare reform is okay with the idea of nursing unions, which would push for higher pay, and thus, higher costs? And those are just two small issues in this huge, complex question of reform.

There is just so much in this debate that doesn't add up, and these 'uninformed' citizens (so-called by another posted comment) I don't think are all that uninformed if they have figured out that things aren't adding up. Americans are smart. They know when something doesn't seem quite right.