Health Care BS

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about the ineffective way conservatives debate health care reform. Frank Luntz has been thinking about the same issue and has some advice for Republicans:

You simply MUST be vocally and passionately on the side of REFORM … The status quo is no longer acceptable. If the dynamic becomes ‘President Obama is on the side of reform and Republicans are against it,’ then the battle is lost.

In other words, stop fighting “reform.” Instead, fight for the RIGHT KIND of reform. Luntz also suggests some verbiage that will be more effective when attempting to define the real peril of Obamacare:

It could lead to the government setting standards of care, instead of doctors who really know what’s best.

It could lead to the government rationing care, making people stand in line and denying treatment like they do in other countries with national healthcare.

President Obama wants to put the Washington bureaucrats in charge of healthcare. I want to put the medical professionals in charge, and I want patients as an equal partner.

Luntz is right. If conservatives use these kind of phrases, the message would resonate with the public. And, unlike the talking points used by the other side, they have the virtue of actually being true.

I hope conservatives will listen to Luntz. The way our side has been conducting the debate has been hopelessly inept. If we don’t change tactics and start speaking to the issue in human terms, the cause is a lost.