Sarasota Health News

Editor's notebook, Aug. 28

David Gulliver - posted 2:20 pm Friday, Aug. 28

When Rep. Vern Buchanan (via tape recording) called a week ago yesterday, I immediately started to note the time and place of his town-hall meeting on healthcare reform. Then I stopped.

Like most of you, I’ve seen the reports on how, across the country, these events have been packed with angry people shouting -- for the most part -- nonsense or nasty insults.

That’s not to say I blindly agree with the plans for reform currently slogging through Congress. Note that over to the left of this column, there’s a story on this page reporting on some Sarasota County physicians’ efforts to slow the reform freight train. They have some expertise, and they raise some valid issues, and that’s why we reported the story.

But it struck me that by writing a story on the town hall meeting, I’d just add to the echo chamber of uniformed opinion on healthcare reform.

The story in the newspaper the next day told you absolutely nothing you hadn’t heard already. It quoted the same insults and catchphrases that have circulated for months. And when one person simply asked the crowd to acknowledge there was a problem with health care, people shouted at him to sit down.

I spent much of 2007 working on a series of stories for the Herald-Tribune, stories that were never published, following the cases of four people who couldn’t afford health care. All of them were working people, sometimes with two jobs, and supporting families. None were illegal immigrants. They paid their rents or mortgages, bought food, and hoped they wouldn’t get sick.

One man worked two jobs, one to pay the bills and for to get insurance. One woman had to quit her job because of the pain of a compressed disc in her spine, then had to wait months and travel to Tampa for treatment.

The other two have since died of cancer, tumors that might have been treatable if they had seen a doctor sooner. I’d bet they all thought there was a problem with the health care system.

The attendees’ disbelief might have something to do with the audience. I ran a poll of my email subscribers this week, and while the numbers were too low (and the method too unscientific) for a definitive conclusion, it suggests something interesting. Two-thirds of Republican households reported getting a phone call about the meeting, while only one-quarter of Democrats said they got a call.

It would be interesting to see the results of a true random poll with a few hundred responses. And it would have been interesting if the town hall meeting had been an effort to inform people, instead of letting them reinforce their own fears.

----
More on that in part two of this column, which I’ll work up over the weekend.





	Editor's notebook, Aug. 28 David Gulliver - posted 2:20 pm Friday, Aug. 28 When Rep. Vern Buchanan (via tape recording) called a week ago yesterday, I immediately started to note the time and place of his town-hall meeting on healthcare reform. Then I stopped. Like most of you, I’ve seen the reports on how, across the country, these events have been packed with angry people shouting -- for the most part -- nonsense or nasty insults. That’s not to say I blindly agree with the plans for reform currently slogging through Congress. Note that over to the left of this column, there’s a story on this page reporting on some Sarasota County physicians’ efforts to slow the reform freight train. They have some expertise, and they raise some valid issues, and that’s why we reported the story. But it struck me that by writing a story on the town hall meeting, I’d just add to the echo chamber of uniformed opinion on healthcare reform. The story in the newspaper the next day told you absolutely nothing you hadn’t heard already. It quoted the same insults and catchphrases that have circulated for months. And when one person simply asked the crowd to acknowledge there was a problem with health care, people shouted at him to sit down. I spent much of 2007 working on a series of stories for the Herald-Tribune, stories that were never published, following the cases of four people who couldn’t afford health care. All of them were working people, sometimes with two jobs, and supporting families. None were illegal immigrants. They paid their rents or mortgages, bought food, and hoped they wouldn’t get sick. One man worked two jobs, one to pay the bills and for to get insurance. One woman had to quit her job because of the pain of a compressed disc in her spine, then had to wait months and travel to Tampa for treatment. The other two have since died of cancer, tumors that might have been treatable if they had seen a doctor sooner. I’d bet they all thought there was a problem with the health care system. The attendees’ disbelief might have something to do with the audience. I ran a poll of my email subscribers this week, and while the numbers were too low (and the method too unscientific) for a definitive conclusion, it suggests something interesting. Two-thirds of Republican households reported getting a phone call about the meeting, while only one-quarter of Democrats said they got a call. It would be interesting to see the results of a true random poll with a few hundred responses. And it would have been interesting if the town hall meeting had been an effort to inform people, instead of letting them reinforce their own fears. ---- More on that in part two of this column, which I’ll work up over the weekend.