The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel‘s Guy Boulton breaks down polling data and political strategy to demonstrate that, while a large majority of Wisconsin residents acknowledge that the health system is broken, few are willing to take the steps necessary to fix it. The majority opposes higher taxes and changes to their employer-provided plans, even if it will help those who currently have no insurance.
Boulton uses local and national statistics to produce a well-rounded picture of the logistical obstacles facing health care reform efforts.
One of the key sticking points seems to be that people do not want to be told that some things are not medically necessary. “And talk of making the system more efficient by reducing unneeded care inevitably invites cries of ‘rationing.’”
Another obstacle – one that journalists need to be aware of – is that, while health care affects everyone, “relatively very few people have much reason to be extremely well informed about the mechanics of health care – the financing of health care, the delivery system,” according to Mark Peterson, a political science professor at UCLA and a faculty associate of its Center for Health Policy Research.
(Hat tip to Carol Gentry at Health News Florida)
