Posted on 09/02/2009 7:23:15 PM PDT by myknowledge
WASHINGTON -- A group called the Herndon Alliance -- a coalition of liberal health-care groups, unions and patient-advocacy groups created in late 2005 -- was only a few months into its work planning a health-insurance overhaul by the time it asked focus groups what they thought of the idea of a government-run plan to compete with private ones.
The public-option was an article of faith for many in the alliance, but the focus groups' reactions were sobering. Skepticism ran high. The chief worry: Giving access to inexpensive government insurance to America's 46 million uninsured would boost costs, or reduce care, for those who were already insured.
When pollsters told the advocacy groups the public option probably wouldn't fly, they were told to paper over the problem with a better "message," according to a participant in the project.
"We tried to do our best to come up with some fancy words to help talk about this," one participant said, but in the end, he said, marketers and pollsters involved in the Herndon Alliance may have told their advocacy group clients what they wanted to hear.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
An ashtray is probably the best place for this plan.
I suppose he is totally unaware of the fact that virtually every news site on the internet now has a COMMENTS section open to everyone willing to give 'em an email address.
My "talking points" get out there where they count. Like thousands of others I practice getting them right here on FreeRepublic.
I just love it when the media finally comes in after the fact to explain to us lowly peasants why something did not pass. They are so unnecessary these days! Congratulations WSJ for coming to the rescue and letting us know what we have known for months...
The post had a link to the LVRJ article, which in turn provided a link to the "comments" section. I tried to read them all, but could only get through about fifty--and I suspect there were HUNDREDS more.
Some defended Reid ("he has a right to free speech"), but most were supportive of Frederick for standing up to Reid--AND--the Democrats in the Congress.
Was very encouragaing to read these posts because they show the level of frustration and anger--even outrage--that so many people feel at the direction the liberals in Congress and the Whitehouse are taking this country.
I think where he went wrong was trying to push it through without anyone knowing what was in it.
I'm an optimist, and I think we'll look back at this time like we did the break up of AT&T that resulted in the modern connected era of nearly free long distance, wireless phones, cell phones, internet, etc, etc
First we have to put a stake in the heart of Obamacare
This excessive focus on cost and rationing rather than growth and innovation is not how Americans solve problems. That's why we're chafing at this crap from Washington!
The bottom of the sea would be better. Seriously, these people are as serious as the heart attacks they don’t want to treat. They have not given up. They simply want to lull us into a false sense of victory. Now is the time to gird our loins and hit them twice as hard.
Or, to be phrased in a slightly more "precise" way: "you need to inflate what you want by 500%, and if you accomplish one fifth of that, you will accomplish 100% of what you want to do"
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