Obama: This is NOT Healthcare Reform.

For someone so adept at speaking it’s astonishing to find President Obama speaking so ineffectively about something he cares about so deeply.

In talking with my peers about “Health Care Reform” as it is being packaged today we noted that the most heated arguments against reform are coming from people who seem to believe that the reform will somehow affect the quality of health care the “haves” are getting today.  The name “Health Care Reform” basically implies that right from the start – before anything else is done.

I haven’t done the legwork to see who coined the term “Health Care Reform” but the Republicans couldn’t have picked a better term to prevent passage if they’d hired Frank Luntz.  Heck… they might’ve actually done that already.

What the Democrats don’t seem to understand is that those with health care today are not likely to want change on a grand scale to the medical attention they receive – but the name of the reform implies that they’re going to get it anyway.   Their thought process might go something like this…  “Is health care good? Yes. Do I have it? Yes. Do I want changes to it? No!”

My incidental experience suggests that people don’t want changes to their care but they do want changes to the method of paying for the care and determining which aspects of their care will be covered and which won’t.  Almost everyone has been denied coverage for something they deem as critical but the insurer says is optional or still not proven.

Which brings us back to the name.

The conversations we’re having about Universal Health Care and Single Payer aren’t about health care at all.  They’re about insurance reform.

How many people do you think would stand up against the “Insurance Accountability Act” or “Insurance Reform?”

Has anyone else noticed that the insurance companies haven’t been making many public statements about health care reform?  They’re acting behind the curtain rather than in front of it because the language we use allows them to pretend it isn’t their issue.  Changing the language used to discuss the plan would shine the light where the problem exists.  It isn’t with the health care providers – it’s with the people who pay for it and deny payment for it.

Generalizing a bit here, but Democrats always seem to count on people to understand what they mean, but use language that hides the true benefits of their programs.  Republicans have been masters in this area.  Luntz’s Death Tax is a marvel.  “Protection of Marriage” (while morally abhorrent to many) is highly effective.  They understand how to move public opinion without even having to discuss the issues.

Why can’t the Democrats do that?

There seems to be a belief that if the truth is told that people will understand, believe in, and support it.  That’s not how things work, however.  Especially when there are very wealthy and powerful forces actively working to ensure that the truth is questioned and smeared before people have a chance to learn the intricacies of the situation.

I believe that the truth can be told – and that in this case the Democrats did tell the truth, but told the wrong truth.  Will everyone be able to get health care under the plan?  Yes.  But at what cost, and when, and what about immigrants, and… (add in the hundreds of arguments against the program here.)  The right truth to tell is that the insurance companies are bloated, inefficient, rife with fraud, stacked with executives making tens of millions of dollars, and more concerned with making a profit than serving the needs of their insureds – and that truth can lead to reform that can both pass and gain public support.

Yes – I know insurance firms are major contributors to every person in Federal elected office.  But if the message is transmitted directly to the American people via the President – and the language of the reform is changed from Health Care to Insurance Reform – those who are unintentionally clamoring to come to the rescue of private insurers are likely to be a whole lot less vocal.

Now if only we knew someone who could forward this to the White House communications office…