Earworms Destroying Obamacare
posted at 11:28 am on August 3, 2009 by Legal Insurrection
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Why would anyone be against government-run health care? It makes no sense to those pushing a public option, and the ultimate goal of a single-payer system. Government is good, insurance companies are bad. Repeat ad naseum, government good, insurance companies bad.
Digby at Hullabaloo noticed this phenomenon. You see, she was getting her hair cut the other day in liberal West L.A., and was shocked to discover that the people who work there are afraid of government-run health care:
Everyone in the place was complaining about the insurance companies and how broken the system was. But they were also convinced that the Democrats are trying to pass socialized medicine. When I asked what they thought that meant, they said, “government takeover of health care.” And they were seriously worried about how that was going to affect them.
But wait, hadn’t the folks read posts by Ezra Klein and Matthew Yglesias extolling the benefits of having the government configure and implement nationalized health care? These bloggers are smart! And young! And way more hip than we are! And don’t the folks in the hair place read Hullabaloo, Crooks and Liars, and FireDogLake? What better recommendation for national health care than blogs with such names?
Digby found the problem. It wasn’t what the folks were reading, or hearing, or seeing. No something more mysterious was at work, ear worms:
I don’t know where these people are getting this. They aren’t political, they don’t listen to talk radio or read blogs. This is just what’s out in the ether, what people are saying in casual conversation. The ear worm is “we’ve got a problem, but the Democrats are going to take over health care and make things worse.” It’s not entirely surprising, but it’s depressing nonetheless.
No not “ear worms” as in Helicoverpa zea, but earworms as in something you can’t get out of your head, such as “yes we can” or “no tax increases on anyone making under $250,000 a year.” Those catchy phrases that just keep popping up no matter what reality says.
Digby may be onto something. Fear of government-run Obamacare is like an earworm. It is something that people cannot get out of their heads because of life experiences. One of the few things people fear more than going to the dentist is going to the motor vehicle department.
Take a number, wait in line for an hour, then find out you are in the wrong line, then wait in the correct line, get to the front, find out you have the wrong form, go to the back of the line, wait, get to the front of the line, but now it is 4:01 p.m., and they’re closed. See you tomorrow.
Now repeat, but this time with your health care. Maybe the folks are a hell of a lot smarter than all the wonks combined.
Cross-posted with updates at Legal Insurrection Blog
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I know someone who works in the MVD. When I come in she pulls strings and gets me right to the front of the line.
I suspect govt run health care will be similar. “Friends of Obama” club members will get the chemo. The rest of us get the hemlock.
jdpaz on August 3, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Keep up the whispering… it’s slowly working.
Upstater85 on August 3, 2009 at 12:38 PM
One of the terms used in the armed forces is “Hurry up and wait.” The government can & will bury you in paperwork. The hoops that you have to jump through for the most simplest desire would frustrate even a comotose patient If you want this, you must do that and go here, here and here or more importantly go there. You are required to get signatures from this sub-agency administrater or that unaffiliated department head before being allowed to obtain the specific government form that may or may not be approved because that form has been superceeded by a new form that hasn’t been made available due to the delay in another seperate government department which is in charge of distributing those latest forms. No one from govenment can help you now because of these unsystematic systematic standard operating procedures are now under review & revision therefore, the people who you sought help from in the first place tell you that their hands are tied. What’s worse is when you realize that all of these government workers and their bosses are getting paid whether they help you or not.
Most, if not all government agencies have more procedures & layers of bureaucracy than any other private sector institution, What with the crime of time lost aside, it doesn’t even address the customer service aspect differences between any government agency versus the private sector institution. The fact is that any private sector has to make a profit in order to survive but any government agency out there does not.
Americannodash on August 3, 2009 at 1:24 PM