UNDERSTANDING HEALTH CARE IS A HEADACHE

The fate of more than 35 million uninsured Americans is hanging from a thin thread. The power to save these Americans in need, politicians say is in the hands of 60 senators. Americans don’t need 60 senators to save them. After all, we are the ones who will be affected by the decisions made in Congress, and we need to make this life-changing decision on our own. But it is not as easy as it sounds. We must understand what is being proposed before we can say yay or nay. With more than a thousand pages more difficult to understand than a doctor’s handwriting, Americans don’t have enough understanding to push their representative in the right direction. All Americans, not just those that are uninsured, need user-friendly health care that can be understood, and from which an informed decision can be made.

TV personalities are successful when it comes to selling products. If they weren’t they wouldn’t even be on TV. But products aren’t the only thing they’re selling. They’re also selling candidates and political ideas. Surprised, you shouldn’t be. Remember all those celebrities that wore their Obama “Change” shirts during the election. They turned Obama from a somewhat known politician to an international sensation. This marketing tool needs to be used again. Health care advocates need to convince those on TV to support this program. Maybe if they began expressing their opinion on national television and started selling trendy health care shirts to college students, then health care could have a chance in Congress.
   
The power of the Internet is immense, and yet no one is taking advantage of its power to push for health care reform. Online there are millions of “Top Ten” lists, yet not one top ten list to oppose or support health care exists. During the 2008 election, everyone with a Facebook had at least one friend requests from a candidate, you couldn’t walk into a gas station without being bombarded with Obama and McCain pins and no matter where you looked someone was wearing Obama’s face. One would expect that with the success the Obama campaign had with these tactics every politician, political movement or anything that needed mass exposure would use this. Wrong! There are thousands of Facebook groups, shirts promoting all types of causes from “Save Darfur” to “Go Green”, yet I still haven’t gotten one request to become a fan of health care. Health care advocators and opponents must make this nation health care obsessed. Health care should be everywhere, consuming our every day thoughts like the 2008 presidential campaign did.

There are steps that need to be taken before health care reform can become popular and eventually get those 60 votes needed. The first step is to take over Facebook by using every application available. Then advertise as if in a tight campaign, and post viral videos all over the internet. With the help of advertising and viral videos, health care should be made easier to understand.  A video that gives the top ten things health care reform will do for me or five ways the Baucus’ bill will harm Medicare are examples of videos that should exist online.  This user-friendly health care should be pitched to the news. Current news coverage of the bill has been slim. Water line ruptures get more coverage. Coverage needs to be increased if health care reform will have a chance of being passed. In order to make health care popular, celebrities will have to openly endorse it by wearing their “Support Health Care” shirts and singing about health care. They can also help by selling health care merchandise, such as shirts or bumper stickers, to raise funds for the cause.

Public option, co-op, single-payer or trigger are words that senators don’t even understand. Health care may pass without any public understanding, but if it is not made understandable in the first place we won’t know how to take advantage of it. We will still be without Health care and money will be wasted instead of being saved.