Seriously - why DON'T the Dems call reform "Medicare for all"?

[jillan]

Or frame the debate as expanding Medicare.

Keith hit the nail on the head about how the phrase 'Public Option' could scare the crap out of some people...especially those people
who don't think for themselves.

Hasn't anyone in the WH read Lakoff?

What part of framing the debate doesn't our elected officials understand???:crazy:


Maybe I should send Obama my copy of DON'T THINK OF AN ELEPHANT.

[lapfog_1]

1. I like the term "Privately Purchased Medicare Option"

PPMO... sort of like HMO.

[jillan]

4. That's perfect....again I have to ask - why aren't our elected representatives using terminology

like this?

That phrase explains it all, and has no fear in it.
Did you think of that yourself?

[pnwmom]

16. That's better because it sounds less threatening to the elderly,

who are being told that a public option will mean a reduction in their own health care.

[saracat]

2. Because it was never meant to be either Medicare or for ALL!

Doesn't anyone ever listen to Obama? He flat out said this PO would not be available to ALL people.

[jillan]

6. Did you NOT READ my second SENTENCE?

[saracat]

14. Yes I did. I have also read Lakoff. But the fact is Medicare for All would not have appealed to the

GOP and the conservative Dems."Option" was supposed to be the framing, as they stressed "choice" and "competition". It backfired because of the word "public". And in any event it was never intended to cover everyone, so saying that would not have been framing ,it would have been a lie.

[pnwmom]

17. Other than illegal aliens, who wasn't it intended to cover? n/t

[saracat]

19. It is only intended to cover those currently without insurance and designed to benefit 5% of the

population.

[pnwmom]

20. Depends on which version ends up in the final bill.

Obama has never linked himself closely with a single version. The whole point now is to get ANY bill out of the Senate Finance Committee. That's when the real negotiating begins.

As Obama has said (and I'm paraphrasing), if the private plans act in the interest of their customers, there is no reason to think that the public plans will pull more than a small number of people away. However, if private plans don't meet the needs of their customers, then they deserve to lose them.

The health insurers wouldn't have been fighting this tooth and nail if they really believed that a public option would only end up being selected by 5% of the population.

[jgraz]

3. Because it's not Medicare for All and they don't want Medicare for All

Their insurance overlords won't allow it.

[Egnever]

5. Thats easy

Cause too many of them aren't even remotely interested in single payer.

[JackRiddler]

7. Because many Democrats don't like winning. (Elections? Sure! Agendas? Oh god no!)

[bobburgster]

18. Ugh, I'm beginning to agree with you.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. Because it's not Medicare for all. Medicare is already...

frought with enough problems that expanding it is a really rotten idea.

Despite what some people think, Medicare does not pay for everything, but it still has screwy rules that make some treatments cost far too much, and some things you would think Blue Cross came up with. And there's that whole drug thing, and the medigap policies, and the Advantage coverages...

Nah, the point is to find something better than Medicare, although that doesn't seem to be happening.

[jillan]

9. That is a great point but you would think that the Dem leaders would be able to better frame this

debate rather than call it Public Option. Keith hit the nail on the head, imho, on why people would be fearful of that label.

[slipslidingaway]

10. It would be a revised Medicare for All system. n/t

[spin]

11. And why don't they call the insurance companies parasites...

which the damn bloodsuckers are.

For profit heathcare sucks big time.

[slipslidingaway]

12. They could have if that is what they offered, but they chose to go with...

a weak version of the Jacob Hacker idea.

[defendandprotect]

13. We need some large MEDICARE FOR ALL buttons . . . in Congress . . !!!

And public wearing them -- !!!

Great way to demonstrate without getting beaten up by a bunch of gestapo cops!!

[Oregone]

15. Lets call the Afghan war "Peaceful Meditation" while we are pulling shit out of our ass

Why? Because its not.

[stray cat]

21. Because its not what they are proposing?