· Justify the value of marketing plans as instruments that compel .docx
Dissertation Nicole Racco
1. The Communication of Health Care Reform Obama versus McCain Nicole Racco ADVISOR: Giovanni Fattore DISCUSSANT: Luca Buccoliero Academic Year 2008/2009
2. Recognize the benefits of using computer-coding methology for content analysis Identify which of two candidates better communicated the health care reform Understand the implications of President Obama’s health care reform As a result of the presenation, the commision
3. What is Content Analysis? Content analysis is a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of communication content (Berelson, 1952) What is content Analysis?
16. How is the reform financed? How is the reform financed?
17. Conclusion Conclusions Recognized the 4 benefits of using computer-coding methology for content analysis Identified which of two candidates better communicated the health care reform and the 3 key factors of a successful communication Understood the implications of President Obama’s health care reform
Because what the software can do for you is :an accurate analysis of large dataRemoves the need for intercodersStandardize the processAllows to build on dictionaries/categorization created in previous studies
A sotware, specifically WordStat, that we used in our research offers several tools and I’m going to explain you 3 of them.Phrase finder:retrieves the most frequent sentecesKey-word-in-context: allows to check meaning consistency between the words and the categories. If you find inconsistency, you can delete the item and also create a rule that prevent the software to count similar casesText retrieval: allows to narrow the analysis to only one part of the document. In our cases, we limited to sentences on healthcare issues.
And now to identify which candidate better communicated health care reform. We used the Frank Luntz’ recommendations. He is an American political consultant. He has recently workedwith Fox News Channels. He has written on the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington He received his Doctorate in Politics at Oxford University. His recommendations are:First: humanize your approach. An example of words that work are those used by President Obama in his speech in Daytona Beach in Florida on Sept20 2008 “ I’ll stop insurance companies from discriminating. This is personal to me. My mother died of ovarian cancer at the age of 53”Second recommandatino: Acknowledge Crisis. And here I have an example of words used by Senator McCain and that do NOT work: “we need to open up health care to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking”After the financial crisis and Lehamen Brothers ‘ bankruptcy. This was NOT a good comparison to do.Third and last one is: Say what you are for. But McCain was lacking in it. He spent too much effort to say that he was against President Obama’ s plan. (3min)
Now move to the last part. For the next 5 minutes I will explain the Health bill and its implications on the health care systemBut first some figures.America has a deficit of 11% of GDP The Unemployment rate is 10%Healthcare spending accounts for 16% of GDP Average coverage cost for family: $13,000According to The Economist Magazine for March 20 the health care systems needs 2 thingsexpanding coverage46 M people have no insurance because they have pre-existing conditions; they are too old for Medicare; they have exhausted the “lifetime caps ” of their coverageCost Control:Health benefitis provided by employers are not taxed. So employees are not aware of the real costs so they overconsumePhysichian over prescibe tests because they are paid on the basis of the number tests. America is a fee for services systemHospitals and doctors hold oligopoly. There is no competitionDoctors practise “defensive medicine” : they fear lawsuit for malpractise medicine
Last week on March 23 the reform passed. It is called Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act. The reform will be full implemented in 2014. First,the reform requires US citizens and legal residents to buy coverage. Secondly, on the Health Benefit Exchange, individuals, small businesses and people with income between 133-400% Federal Poverty Level get cost sharing credits to buy health coverage. Federal Poverty Level accounts for $8,310 for a family of 3 people in 2009.Third, large companies which do not provide health coverage have to pay penalties.The last point is expandign Medicaid which will include individual with income below 133% of Federal Poverty Level.(The source of information is Kaiser Family Foundation. It is a non-profit private operating foundation, based in California, that dedicates to produce and communicate analysis and information on health issues. The data are available on www.kff.org)
5 changes will take effect right away.First, offering tax credits to about 4 M small businesses to help cover insurance costsSeniors who do not fall into Medicare will receive $250 to pay for prescriptionInsurance companies won’t be able to drop coverage when people get sick or to put a time limit on people coverageMedicare will provide free preventive care without co-payments Children will be able to stay under their parents health insurance until they are 26 years old
The next 3 steps of the reforms will be:Creating the Health Insurance Exchange. It is a competitive market place where uninsured people and small businesses will be memeber of a big pool so they can purchase their coverage at a better price & conditionsTax Breaks to afford coverageReduce the deficit of $1 trillion dollars in the next 20 yearsThe functions of the HIE are:Give people choice of plansProvide informationSet administraive mechanisms for enrollmentEnsure portability of health coverageReform the insurance market (everyone has to be accepted, limit premium variations, monitor marketing)
The reform will be financed through 3 types of entries:1. Savings by changing Medicare and Medicaid In 10 years washington says that in 10 years they will buil a fund of $622b in savings:$177 b will be taken from decreasing Medicare Advantages that are Medicare benefits through private insurance plans instead of the original Medicare plan (A and B). Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans grew from 5.4 million in 2005 to 8.2 million in 2007. $106 b by reducing payments to hospitals $ 75 b dollars from lower than expected price of drugs under Medicare$25 b dollars by reducing admissions to hospitals under Medicare$20 b dollars from higher Medicare rebates paid by drug manufacturers2. The Second type of entries is revenues withing Health Care systemEmployers will be required to provide coverage or to pay a fee that increases across years$245 b per year saved because benefits provided by employers will be taxed as suggested by Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus. Employer plan will offer less benefits and so people will consume less health care services3. Revenues outside the health care system$540 b in 10 years coming from a graduated tax surcharge of 1-5.4% on income above $280,000 for single taxpayers and $350,000 for families
I would like to conclude summarizing the results of our presentation.We recognized the 4 benefits of using a software for content analysis.We learnt the 3 key factors of a successfulcommunication (humanize, acknowledge crisis and say what you are for)Eventually we overviewed the implications of the reform and its financial resources.