On Costs and Deficit

27 August 2010

Herndon Alliance encourages our partner organizations to first and foremost provide clear information (factually correct and free of rhetoric) to the public about the health law.

Healthcare reform is projected to reduce costs and help bring down the deficit. Credible independent sources (including the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office— which is the gold standard for making available this type of information) have provided comprehensive assessments supporting the capability of the law to bring down costs and reduce the deficit. This will happen if individuals take responsibility for their health and states implement the reforms.

Americans are tired of the partisan spin that many opponents continue to throw at the health reform law. Hard-working people are thinking about the economy and just want to know how the law will help them and their families. We deserve quality information, not inflammatory misinformation.

The following communications tips will help you inform the public and address costs and the deficit.

Communications Tips for Costs and the Deficit

Research suggests that the public is having a hard time accepting that the new health law will help bring down costs and reduce the deficit even though credible independent sources such as the Congressional Budget Office provide verifiable evidence.

Successful communication depends on engaging with and understanding your audience (where they are in their thinking-not where you wish they were)—what they believe, value, want, and fear. We also know that people's values and beliefs greatly outweigh facts, no matter how significant and true the facts are. And we know in order to move people in their thinking, connecting with them counts much more than winning an argument.

Therefore, Herndon Alliance suggests you make a long term effort to 'move' the public along by focusing the conversation on specific benefits of the law that will most affect them. Our research reaffirms that the more the public hears about the specific reforms in the law, the more they understand and like it.

For example:

"The new health law is a great start at helping Americans. Take Max – he was almost 60 when he found out he had cancer. As though the disease was not bad enough, after a few surgeries and some complications with radiation and chemotherapy his insurance company told him that he had reached his lifetime limit for coverage even though he's been paying premiums, co-pays, and deductibles for 20 years. The new law will stop insurance companies from imposing lifetime or annual caps on coverage or dropping us when our health care gets too expensive. The new law creates real solutions to real problems, and that's what we all want."

The Herndon Alliance knows that the public's concerns need to be squarely addressed. Americans remain concerned about growing costs and how the new law will be funded. Let the public know that only the wealthy, those with incomes over $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (family) annually, will see a tax increase to help finance the new law. You should respond honestly to their questions and free of rhetoric.

Once you have connected with the public on a 'personal level' they will be more accepting of the facts supplied by the Congressional Budget Office, including their recent report stating that repealing the law will actually increase the deficit.