Joanna
Gar Lipow wrote:
>On 3/26/06, Jim Devine <jdevine03 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>I recently (30 minutes ago) took a 15 minute telephone poll on medical
>>care reform. The questions didn't allow me to say "I like the idea of
>>tax-payer financed state- (or federal-) organized single-payer." It's
>>also clear from the questions that many people will answer contrary to
>>what they would like, since many don't understand that having a bigger
>>insurance pool would cut per-person cost. So take any poll numbers you
>>hear with a spoonful of salt.
>>--
>>
>>
>
>Sure. But for just this reason I think it is possible to be
>overoptimistic in reading these polls. Without education, there are
>all sorts of ways people can be scared out of supporting single payer
>in spite of stongly leaning in that direction. They can be told it
>would cost them more or that they would have less choice of doctors
>and care or face lower quality treatment, or have to pay more. It is
>easy to document the opposite, that single payer would lower costs,
>improve quality, give more medical choice, but most people (including
>a suprisingly large number of leftists) don't know this. So any single
>payer campaign has to educate a large percent of the population. This
>by the way reinforces Carrols point about "talking to ourselves". How
>do you educate a large percent of the population about anything?
>Ultimately you have to talk to them. Yes there is the Internet,
>brochures, pirate radio, public access cable (at least for the
>moment), speaking gigs and occasional cracks in the corporate media.
>But for any or all of these to reach people you have to get their
>attention which is done by reach one at a time or a few at time, via
>events, house parties, tabling, door-to-door and other really time
>consuming means. So that takes a lot of people. So really you have the
>reach the people who are already actively support left causes,
>educate them about the importance of single payer, and persuade them
>to put time into this. If you can do that, they can help reach others.
>
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>
>
>
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