The biggest objection to the new federal health insurance plan is its requirement that everyone buy health insurance. A poor job has been done of explaining why this is true. This basic educational task should have been better addressed through public relations by the Obama administration. One could also blame the media for not covering this issue in simple, clear ways that everyone can understand.

Today’s New York Times has an article about an MIT professor, Jonathan Gruber, who convinced both the Massachusetts government under Governor Mitt Romney and the Obama administration that it was imperative to their health insurance plans to require that everyone buy health insurance. He showed calculations to demonstrate a “terrible spiral:” when healthy people can opt out of the plan, it leaves the relatively sick in the plan. This causes costs for premiums to rise, which in turn causes the least sick to drop coverage, sending costs even higher, and making healthcare unaffordable to all but the wealthy.

I’m not sure why this issue hasn’t been well-explained. It’s not that complicated. I’ve done it here in eight steps that a child should understand:

1. Health insurance companies use the income from premiums to pay for healthcare.

2. If everyone participates in a health insurance plan, whether young or old, healthy or sick, the premiums paid by the young and healthy subsidize the costs of healthcare for the old and sick.

3. If the young and healthy can opt out of the plan, the premiums they would have paid are no longer available to subsidize the healthcare costs of the old and sick. Therefore, in order to stay in business, the health insurer must charge larger premiums to the old and sick.

4. The increased cost of premiums then force the healthier sick people to opt out of the plan because they can no longer afford the premium costs.

5. That sends costs up even more, leaving the really sick and very old in the plan. Their costs of healthcare will then become higher still.

6. This is the downward spiral that makes health insurance less viable as time goes on unless everyone is covered. Only two things can prevent this downward spiral:
• If everyone is required to pay for health insurance, the cost burden isn’t just on the old and sick. Some say this is unfair to the healthy, who are forced to subsidize healthcare for the sick. They should remember that at some point, we all become old and sick.
• The only other way of preventing the downward spiral is to withhold healthcare from those who don’t pay premiums. Of course this won’t happen, because as a society we feel a moral obligation to provide at least a minimal level of healthcare whether or not people are insured. Emergency rooms don’t turn away victims of car accidents just because they don’t have health insurance.

7. Therefore, without a mandate that everyone must be covered, the downward spiral makes health insurance cost increasingly more, so eventually it becomes unviable for all but the wealthy.

Actually, this is happening in the U.S. right now. The number of uninsured has grown to one out of six Americans. As costs for health insurance have grown, companies have cut back, shifting costs to employees. This, as well as the high number of uninsured unemployed, has led to annual growth in the number without health insurance coverage.

Health insurance premiums on average have doubled since 2001. Americans pay a larger percent of their own healthcare costs than people in any other industrialized country in the world.

As costs go up and less people receive preventative care, Americans’ health grows worse, which causes costs to go even higher.

Is this simple enough to understand?

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In May, 2005, I had the pleasure of sitting in the audience when Mike Wallace took the podium as keynote speaker at the annual “Big Apple” awards celebration of the Public Relations Society of America – New York Chapter. Then 87 or 88 years old, he must have been the oldest speaker PRSA-NY had ever had. You could hear a pin drop as he spoke.

In the public relations industry, Mike Wallace was one of the most respected and at the same time, most feared journalists ever. He could reduce public figures to blubbering idiots with just one simple question. Even the rumor that Mike Wallace had a research crew investigating a company was enough to send executives and PR departments into a tailspin. ABC News’s George Stephanopolis commented that Wallace became more famous than most of his subjects by mastering the “in your face” interview. ABC News reporter John Donovan, in a story about Wallace, noted that Wallace “had a gift for making the unaskable askable.” Just one example: he had the nerve to ask Nancy Reagan how much President Ronald Reagan got paid for visiting Japan after he left office.

Much has been written about this legend of TV journalism in the last few days, but from a PR perspective, the best piece I’ve read was by Larry Thomas, president of Latergy, a video services firm. I direct you to his article in a communications industry publication CommPRO.biz, “Remembering Mike Wallace: Lessons from a Master Interviewer,” which summarizes the influence Wallace had into five key lessons for public relations, corporate communications and investor relations professionals. Thomas ends his blog by saying, “RIP, Mr. Wallace. I’m glad I was able to see you (on TV, not at my office door).” I can certainly echo that.

Lucy Siegel

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Videos have the power to deliver clear and concise messages in a format that is engaging and easy for people to share. Executives in business-to-business firms can master the techniques for creating videos for business success in a free webinar that is now available to view at any time. Scott Public Relations, specialists in healthcare, insurance, technology and professional services PR and marketing, and Focus Creative, an award-winning multimedia communications and development company, have made their “Secrets of Using Video in B2B Marketing Campaigns” webinar available on the Scott Public Relations’ website and YouTube channel as well as Focus Creative’s website.

This webinar will reveal how videos can play a role in B2B marketing and how to create content that people will watch and will want to share. The webinar will alleviate the pressure an executive might feel when they decide to use video for marketing.

Some of the tools viewers will learn in this presentation include:
• The role of video in B2B marketing.
• Creating content that people will watch.
• Creating a video on a budget without looking cheap.

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with a video marketing campaign or video creation, contact Scott Public Relations.

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With the first Baby Boomers entering retirement last year, you might have envisioned them spending long days relaxing instead of starting a new healthy living routine. But this vibrant group of 48 to 66 year olds represents a huge demographic (26 percent of the U.S. population!) for the healthcare industry, and they are proving they aren’t slowing down anytime soon.

Last year alone, 32,000 Baby Boomers made up nearly a fourth of USA Triathlon, another 17,000 took over USA Cycling and 7,500 Baby Boomers ran the Boston Marathon.

Baby Boomers began hitting the gym like never before too, with a million of them joining gyms between 2007 and 2010. Gym membership by the 55+ crowd rose 34 percent in the last few years, according to Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

It seems like the 79 million-strong generation is getting healthy.

In a poll conducted by the Associated Press and LifeGoesStrong.com, Baby Boomers listed their top concerns as changes in their physical abilities (28 percent) and health issues (26 percent). Rather than sitting back and getting old, this never-back-down generation started getting healthy; 90 percent of those polled switched to a healthier diet as they aged and 57 percent began an exercise regime in the last year.

Their efforts seem to be paying off, with 61 percent of Baby Boomers reporting that they feel, on average, nine years younger than they actually are, and 60 percent believing they will live longer than previous generations, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center Survey.

The healthcare industry should be taking particular notice of this healthier attitude and live-forever spirit.

“Fifty-plus consumers aren’t looking to buy big-button phones or ‘I’ve fallen down and can’t get up’ monitoring devices,” says Steve French, managing partner at the Natural Marketing Institute. “Close to half are searching for new self-care methods to prolong health and vitality, and two-thirds optimistically proclaim that the best years of their life are still ahead of them.”

Baby Boomers already buy 74 percent of prescription drugs and 51 percent of over-the-counter drugs and are eager for new medical devices and dietary supplements. They also carry more than 50 percent of the nation’s purchasing power and aren’t afraid to spend a little money to stay healthy so they can continue to live long and happy lives.

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with a baby boomer public relations or marketing program, contact Scott Public Relations.

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As online media continues to grow and change how we get information, the way we measure PR is changing too.

The worth of a PR plan used to be gauged based on how many clips were published and how many people may have seen them. During a 2010 conference, about 200 measurement specialists threw out that antiquated way of thinking and created The Barcelona Principles.

The principles are a simple but effective guideline for measuring PR’s value. Rather than measuring stacks of press clips, PR firms should look at how people interpret and respond to messages.

“These suggestions aren’t difficult to implement and are relevant to the communications professional, irrespective of whether they are on the client or agency side. It’s about putting a system in place that doesn’t cost too much and only measures what matters,” said Andre Manning and David B. Rockland, in their article Understanding the Barcelona Principles.

The principles can be applied to a variety of industries in B2C and B2B including healthcare, insurance, technology and professional services.

The seven Barcelona Principles

1. Importance of goal setting and measurement
Goals should be quantitative, such as increasing revenue or customer satisfaction, and measurement should include traditional and social media and their effect on stakeholders.

2. Measuring the effect on outcomes is preferred to measuring outputs
Outputs only measure things like press clips and the number of people exposed to them, whereas outcomes look at measurement from a business standpoint – how the plan has affected sales, awareness, attitudes, etc. of audiences.

3. The effect on business results can and should be measured where possible
Look at your goals. If you want to increase revenue, look directly at the correlation between a new PR plan and revenue. Rather than just looking at the amount of media, track it in terms of value to your business.

4. Media measurement requires quantity and quality
Whether online or traditional media, simply counting clips or assessing how many people have seen the clips isn’t enough. It is important to assess how people view them based on prominence and tone, and how it affects their choices.

5. AVEs are not the value of public relations
AVEs (advertisement value equivalency) measure media clips in terms of space or time and relate that to what ads of the same size would cost. While a once-popular measuring device, AVEs are unreliable and only look at cost. PR should be measured in terms like audience engagement and behavior changes.

6. Social media can and should be measured
Like traditional media, social media should be measured both qualitatively and quantitatively. Unlike traditional media, things like communities and conversations are more important than coverage alone.

7. Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurement
PR measurement is no different than any other; make sure you adopt a program that can be repeated.

These innovative ideas have changed how PR is measured, and thus how it is conducted, giving companies not just more, but better reach. Now the question is, are they ready to give it a try? Most importantly, are they willing to pay for it?

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with a public relations program, contact Scott Public Relations.

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