Healthcaremanship

Ordinary health, remember, is highly gambit prone.

Stephen Potter, One-Upsmanship

I shall begin by distinguishing between health care reform and health care partisanship.

Health care reform is a serious matter of expanding coverage, improving health, preventing disease, increasing access, lowering costs, speeding convalescence, and decreasing the number of uninsured.

Healthcaremanship, on the other hand, is a word game. Players match words to outwit and discredit one another. The one who writes or talks the most while saying the least wins. The aim is to advance your ideological agenda.

The tools of the game are quite simple.

1) Compile a list of words or phrases used in partisan political discussions.

On the left, these would include.

hooligan
mobs
nazi
misinformation
misinterpretation
distortions
stupid
lies
Hitler
death squads
right winger
extremists
conservatives
neocoms
fascists
terrorists
greed
dysfunctional
evil

Favorite partisan words on the right might include

Left winger
socialism or socialists
left of center
taxes
takeover
bureaucrats
politicians
elitists
wonks
Washington
rationing
freedom
choice
individualism
debt
centralized
power grab

2) Next, on the left, compile a list of neutral words describing the rationality and objectivity of your position

comprehensive
coordinated
rational
managed
integrated
systematic
quality
performance
outcomes
comparative
cost effective
objective
metric

On the right, make this list of rational words

free enterprise
free-market
Adam Smith
market-driven
bottom-up
consumerism
capitalism
individualism
free- choice
decentralized

3) Lastly, arrange your favorite words in three columns – two qualifying adjectives and one abstract noun. Taken together, these three words, dropped in any sequence, are buzz bombs Use them to justify your philosophy. When writing an article or giving a speech or debating an opponent of the opposite persuasion, drop three of these words in quick succession.

On the left, here is a sample list of three word buzz bombs

1 2 3
universal management care
comprehensive care coordination
national effectiveness management
quality algorithmic guidelines
comparative cost priorities
preventive digital protocols
electronic medical records
centralized integrated systems
Interrelated scientific evidence
national resource allocations
predictive data modeling

On the right, these buzz bombs are effective

1 2 3


free enterprise choices
bottom-up market forces
competitive driven consumers
innovative entrepreneurial individualism
responsible patient-centered care
unfettered open options
shared decision making
decentralized health services
intuitive clinical judgment
human alternative accounts


Conclusion

Drop these words or phrases left and right. Drop them often. They may not advance the debate or achieve compromise, but you will feel better and will add fuel to the partisan fires.