Doctors can do messaging on Republican healthcare reform

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said a vote will take place this week on the Senate’s newly proposed healthcare legislation.

It’s a risky strategy. If he fails to get the votes it will demonstrate that after seven years of complaining about ObamaCare, the GOP can’t pass a replacement. If it does pass, there’s no guarantee the House will support it.

The biggest risk is the political one. If President Trump signs a new health law, the Republicans will own the healthcare space. They can reap the benefits, but the Democrats will, no doubt, pick apart and blame the GOP for anything that could otherwise be blamed on ObamaCare. 

Republicans may face the same fate as Democrats in 2010 on Election Day next year if they can’t deliver this week, and then show that their policy can do better by patients, small business owners and doctors.  

Ultimately the final legislation must deliver on four major problems patients and employers face: costs, access, choice and quality. This is difficult but not impossible – as long as the GOP members find compromise that will allow them to show voters they can at least make progress toward these issues. 

Most importantly for doctors, the committee bill must address the increasing presence of insurance companies and government entities that have created an ever-growing wedge between the doctor and patient — the relationship that nearly three-quarters of doctors say is the most satisfying part of their job. 

While agreeing on an exact policy is difficult, messaging from the 30,000 foot view is not. This is good because most voters respond to 30,000 foot messaging, not intricate policy debates — as long as it is carried by the right messengers: doctors.

Consider: Polls show that just 17 percent of the public supports the House proposal. Does anyone believe that more than a few percent of the population has even read the bill? Of course not. People are forming their opinions based on 30,000 foot messaging even if that messaging is fully false. Even before the House voted, seemingly every major media outlet predicted calamity.   

This is the message that Democrats want average voters to hear to turn the focus away from the massive failures of ObamaCare.

Doctors can help. As someone who has organized doctors for the past three election cycles and has witnessed the humanity, the professionalism, and the deep understanding of the doctor-patient relationship of these healthcare professionals, I know there is no doubt doctors are ready to help message a better healthcare alternative.

While they may not agree on every single thread that tries to untie the healthcare Gordian knot, doctors will support a patient-focused reform that returns medical decisions to them and their patients.  

Given their high public esteem — a recent Gallup poll shows healthcare professionals are the most trusted people in the country, with two-thirds of respondents rating doctors’ ethical standards as “very high” or “high” – doctors’ support could make the difference in generating the public support necessary for the final bill to pass.   

The White House and congressional Republicans should enlist those trained, organized, and caring doctors who are willing to help. Their authority on the issue can cut through the misinformation, sensationalism and faux outrage that define much of today’s media.

In short, President Trump and congressional reformers don’t need to spend too much time crafting the message or finding the messengers. Doctors are here and ready to help. Focus on policy; get it done. As long as that plan includes more choice and more protection for the doctor-patient relationship while protecting the neediest, doctors will have reformers’ backs. And that might just save their political necks.

Joel L. Strom DDS MS is a Fellow at the Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.

The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.