NPR’s Liz Halloran reports that while many understand that the nation’s health system may need to be changed, and that such change won’t be cheap, Americans are a bit bamboozled by the “remote, technical discussion” over the specifics of health care reform. Halloran talks to pollsters and public relations professionals who agree that more transparency and better communication is necessary.
One PR consultant said the problem appeared to lie in the administration’s all-or-nothing approach. Polls indicate that, while a slight majority opposes revamping the health care system, each specific reform issue enjoys majority support. As Halloran found, that would seem to indicate that the president’s reform push may have been more successful had he broken it down into smaller, easy-to-understand issues like cost containment and insurance portability.
