Most People Aren’t Angry About Healthcare Reform
I just got back from a wonderful week in Toronto, Canada. No, I wasn’t up there to take tips on how to impose socialized medicine on an unsuspecting public, notwithstanding what some of you may incorrectly-surmise about my political leanings.
Rather, I was there to attend ACP’s annual scientific meeting, during which I had the opportunity to serve as faculty for three separate scientific sessions that discussed the impact of the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACPA) of 2010 on internists and their patients. Several hundred ACP members attended these sessions.
And guess what? Rather than encountering doctors who were angry at the new law and ACP’s support for it, I instead found an engaged and curious group of internists who are looking at health reform in a reasoned, measured and open-minded way.
I would characterize the prevailing mood as hope and uncertainty, not anger and discontent:
Hope that the law will improve access to affordable coverage and provide much-needed support to primary care. Uncertainty about whether it would pay for itself or solve the primary crisis.
Several expressed disappointment that it didn’t do more to reform the tort system or get rid of the Medicare SGR formula. Yet only one member came to the microphone to accuse ACP of “selling out” internists, and he was vastly out-numbered by the many dozens who expressed appreciation for ACP advocacy. Most said that they are looking to ACP to be the trusted source of information on what the new law means.
Internists aren’t alone in viewing the new law without rancor. An April Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll finds that although the public remains divided on the legislation, only 30% are “angry” about it compared to the 69% who said they are “not angry.” The poll also shows that the 56% felt that they did not have enough information on how it will affect them personally, compared to 43% who said they had enough. 55% said they were confused compared to the 45% who weren’t. Yet many of the specific policies in the law were supported by large (bipartisan) majorities.
Most also said they got most of the information about the law from cable television, but when it comes to getting information they can trust, they look to doctors, writes Mark Blumenthal in the National Journal online. “For all their cynicism about government and the news media, when it comes to health reform, most Americans trust their doctors” more than anyone else. He cites a recent Gallup poll: 77% expressed confidence in doctors recommending the right thing for health reform, compared to 49% for President Obama, 37% for Democratic leaders in Congress, 32% for GOP congressional leaders, and 26% for health insurance companies. Blumenthal continues,
“Many of the doctors are as confused about the new law as their patients. ‘Quite honestly,’ one doctor told the Times, ‘I don’t know how to answer their concerns.’ So maybe I should bump up my advice [the Obama administration] to two words:
Doctors. Stat.”
This brings me back to why I was so heartened (but not at all surprised) by the measured views expressed by the internists at ACP’s meeting. They understood that their patients are looking to them for advice and help, and they in turn are looking to ACP to help them understand and explain the law to their patients. They came to learn about the health reform law, not to throw bricks at it.
Today’s questions: Do you think the country is ready to move beyond anger and rancor, to a measured discussion of what the new health reform really means for patients? Do you think physicians can and should lead this conversation? How can ACP help?
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
The question that really comes to mind with observations such as this one is just how much of the anger over the health reform bill was real and how much was the result of a politically and media driven frenzy? Prior to August 2009, bipartisan involvement in health reform was underway. As well, numerous polls have shown that the majority of the public wanted reform. The one point of real division seemed to be how it was being done. Now that reform is in place and support for repeal seems to be slowly deflating, many people will likely move on to the next phase of trying to work with what they have.