Worrying About Healthcare

Posted on 05/21/2009 at 8:37 am by Bob Cesca

While the Republican plan for healthcare is seriously ridiculous, the Frank Luntz memo about selling the plan is slick, deceptive and it could work.

I’ve written before that the modern Republican Party has been entirely about marketing rather than functioning substance, and that’s why the Republicans have succeeded in terms of superficial wins in the last three decades, but their policies have been epic failures. Healthcare is one of many great examples.

The Republicans heretofore have been successful using nearsighted bumper sticker slogans about bureaucrats, socialism and rationing while our private for-profit healthcare system has failed in every way other to make the healthcare providers very wealthy.

So I urge you to read the Luntz memo here. Every Republican I’ve seen on cable news in the last week has quoted this thing verbatim. Most recently this morning on MSNBC (the “bureaucrats between you and your doctor” line — totally Luntz).

And with the president’s healthcare fight on the horizon, we have to be ready. We can’t allow the current system to continue on — unchecked, sinister, deceptive and, in too many cases, deadly.

Adding… I’d love to find out exactly who funded Luntz’s memo.

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  • http://danielsandbach@yahoo.com Daniel

    A nice snappy comeback to somebody using the talking points from the memo could be calling them a “Luntz”.

  • http://www.phuckpolitics.com phuckpolitics

    This memo is marketing at its finest.

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    Luckily, Chris Weigant has already figured out how to shred the Luntz memo:”I’m not sure the Republicans get this, but there’s nothing to fear about health care reform. Most Americans are afraid that they’re going to get a bad illness and wind up broke and bankrupt. President Obama says we CAN live without fear, that we CAN give every American a choice. That Americans can CHOOSE the same health care that Republican Congressmen have. What’s so wrong about that?” (My summary — read his original post here.)

  • Ady

    The Republicans have to be told to “humanize healthcare.” Good lord…not even THAT is obvious to them?Alright, the Democrats need to step up in large numbers and take control of the healthcare debate and the overall message. You know, they have to do what it is they do so poorly.Also, am I the only one who thinks it is in VERY poor taste for Dick Cheney to be attempting to steal the spotlight today with his worthless and irrelevant speech? I think it’s TOTALLY inappropriate b/c it is nothing more than an attempt to salvage the legacy of the Bush Administration.

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    Repeating from the other thread:But the best part of this plan, to me, is the GOPs admission that “Washington and state bureaucracies already control more than 59.8 percent of health care spending.”This is a talking point primed to backfire. They mean to frighten Harry and Louise with the news that universal health care is THAT CLOSE ALREADY. Instead, they’re basically admitting to Harry and Louise that their party is on the wrong side of history.What are the chances Harry and Louise will feel like they have been left out?

  • http://www.southofstrange.com Proud Kool-Aid Drinker™

    Ady, I’m glad Cheney keeps talking. He’s a gift that keeps on giving. Every word out of his mouth is another nail in the coffin of ‘the legacy’ — torture now IS the Bush legacy, and he is the main reason.

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    Kool-Aid,Why is it that you always seem to come into the discussion about the same time I do?

  • http://www.sigzone.blogspot.com MG

    I am literally lmaoing about this– Obama versus Cheney…..Was Slobadan Milosevic unavailable for the Republicans? Oh, yeah.. Dead.Unfortunate.god, the Dems couldn’t BUY a better “competitor”Actually, is Jindal worse?

  • http://www.thenewwearsoff.com/ ǝlʎʞ

    Luntz is one of the best rhetoricians and one of the worst (and skeeziest) pollsters.That said, I think Daniel has the right idea. Imagine Dem vs. Rep on Meet the Press and the Republican tries to drop one of those talking points–”Stop Luntzing the American people around and be honest about the sorry state of our healthcare system.”

  • Ady

    WTF? Tweety and/or Pat Buchanan on MSNBC just now: “Cheney’s already won this debate. Why Obama would put himself up against Cheney is beyond me b/c his administration is in chaos and the Democratic Party is divided.” Yeah, that’s basically what they said. Cheney’s won already, and he hasn’t even uttered a word. WTF are they talking about?

  • http://danielsandbach@yahoo.com Daniel

    Ha!Brilliant Kyle.That’s exactly what I was thinking… thanks for clarifying.

  • Mike

    Just to be clear…We have the best health care system in the world, it has problems, but many from other countries as well as in our own, would agree.Moving to public/nationalized health care would bring that system down a notch, similiar to the canadian system. You can’t have it both ways, the best and cover everyone, even with nationalized health care, you still can’t cover everyone, their care just becomes mediocre. How many deaths or further illness will mediocre cause?The rich will still have access to the best health care because they can pay for it, any way possible, it will just be harder for the average blue collar american to reach. Time is one of the main issues.I agree something needs to be done, but mindlessly following the drumbeat of federal takeover of the public sector on EVERY issue, isn’t one of them.

  • Ady

    Wow Obama’s fired up, isn’t he? I love it. And of course, he makes perfect sense.

  • http://www.thenewwearsoff.com/ ǝlʎʞ

    Mike, be careful not to confuse the best with the most expensive.

  • Theghostsong

    Spot on kyle. We currently provide the 37th best level of healthcare.Mike, the best healthcare isn’t even available in US. See the recent double arm transplant and the first case of HIV being cured. You can’t get these treatments in the states, only in OMG Socialism! EU.Back to the Luntz memo, we already have bureaucrats getting between patients and doctors. Theyre called insurance companies.

  • Sierradrinker

    @Mike, please tell me how the Canadian system is so bad. I’ve been living here for about 7 months now and I haven’t had any issues. Here’s a little story for you to illustrate just how badly screwed up the American health care system is.My daughter was born in Canada. My wife had two ultra-sounds and regular doctor visits to check on the health of her and the baby. One week before the due date, the doctors discover that my daughter is breech and they need to do a c-section. The c-section was scheduled the next day. No problems. Two days in, my daughter has a seizure. They have to take her in specialized neo-natal ambulance to hospital in Calgary that has a neo-natal ICU. She’s there for two days, has a battery of tests. Knock on wood, the doctors don’t find anything wrong with her and it’s been just a one time occurence.Here’s the point to my story. Our total cost for this: $150 and that was only because the first ultra-sound was just after we moved and the health coverage hadn’t kicked in yet.A month ago I get a bill from a lab in Boston for $350. The reason: United Healthcare denied part of the claim because our United Healthcare doctor sent pre-natal lab tests to a lab that wasn’t a United Healthcare lab. Please tell me how it makes sense that the insurance company can legally deny my claim because the doctor they told me to go to sent test to a lab that was out of network.A couple years ago I had some tests done because of some bad vertigo. My doctor, neurologist and professor at Harvard Medical School, orders some tests. United Healthcare denies part of my claim. The reason: they felt one of the tests was experimental and not proven. If had called to get pre-authorization, United Healthcare would have told me I wouldn’t be covered and would have to pay out of my pocket. Tell me how this is any different than a bureaucrat coming between me and my doctor.I’ve talked to people in the states who have been bankrupted by costs associated with a pre-term baby.My sister’s insurance denied her claim on an ambulance ride because she wasn’t admitted when she got to the hospital. The reason: the ambulance company was out of network. Apparently you’re supposed to tell 911 dispatchers to call your insurance company before they send an ambulance.The current US system is completely FUBARed and any system that has the potential to bankrupt you for simply trying to stay alive is pretty much useless.

  • J

    “The bureaucrats between you and your doctor”–I am confused. There are people right now who DON’T have bureaucrats all up in their healthcare?

  • J

    really? omg, are they serious? How delusional can you be? “Politicians will be deciding your healthcare”? Really–Chris Dodd is going to sit down with my health records. My favorite=”health care means getting treatment when you need it.” Yes. True. Which is why the current system is so deeply fucked, and yet, you want to continue it. WHY ARE THEY DUMB?

  • http://arkytek.blogspot.com/ ∇•B=0  Silly Ratfaced Git  ∇•D=ρ

    Mike -I don’t know what alternate universe you inhabit, but in my universe the U.S. Health Care system is not even close to being the best unless you are fabulously wealthy and can just throw vast sums of money around. It’s probably pretty good for the upper 0.1%. For the rest of us, it sucks, horribly.I have type I diabetes and get to use the system often. The system is one ridiculous hoop after another. Trained seals jump through fewer hoops than I have to deal with.Over 60% of U.S. Doctors now support moving to a single payer system because dealing with insurance companies has become so painful.Instead of dispensing wrong wing talking points you might learn something from visiting Physicians for a National Health Program.From PNHP:

    The U.S. spends twice as much as other industrialized nations on health care, $7,129 per capita [per anum]. Yet our system performs poorly in comparison and still leaves 45.7 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered.

    This is because private insurance bureaucracy and paperwork consume one-third (31 percent) of every health care dollar. Streamlining payment through a single nonprofit payer would save more than $350 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.

    Compare those numbers with the Tax Credit the Republitards® are offering. They must suffer from the same delusional denial of realty as you do.

  • swift

    From the Lutz Memo:”So instead of dismissing their concerns, acknowledge them –up front – and then pivot to your solution.”Acknowledge them and pivot? That’s the same as dismissing. This is what is done constantly – and not just by Republicans. Politicians come in with an agenda written by their corporate sponsers. Then they acknowledge our concerns – and pivot.

  • swift

    Here’s my thoughts on a strategy to counter this memo, since it seems like it’s the starting point for derailing reform attempts before they even begin.Every time a talking head, either Republican or media shill, spouts one of these lines from the memo, couldn’t you just say, “That’s a line from the Frank Lutz memo. Did the wealthy health care companies fund that memo? Mr. Lutz won’t tell.”