This poll will be done by the Zogby corporatioin (www.zogby.com) one of the most well known pollsters in America.

 

I hope to “piggy-back” several questions covering biofeedback on a larger poll that will explore political issues. The poll will only contact Pennsylvania residents.

 

There are several reasons it is a good idea to do a smaller poll first.

 

1-       It will help fine-tune the questions that will be used on a larger poll that costs five times as much

2-       It can be done quickly, and most economically, because it is being piggybacked on another poll. There’s not need then to pay extra for the demographic questions that are necessary and valuable for finding out where support or opposition comes from

3-       Other questions on single payer health care will also be included. These will also help define who the supporters and opponents are from different perspecitives, and how biofeedback will fit in to a single payer universal health care scenario.

 

I need financial support to do this. The amount of support I get will determine the number of questions I can ask on the poll. A number of manufacturers offered to contribute $1000 towards doing a poll. It looks like that won’t be necessary for this one. $200 each will be adequate, and smaller contributions from individuals would be helpful and appreciated too. Later, a national poll will be a bigger more costly project. This first one will give us a feel for where we go next with questions and demographics.  We will be submitting the questions to Zogby for formatting in their methodology (highly scientific) on Monday afternoon. We will need your contribution by then. You can use a credit card and call Futurehealth.  I have contacted both AAPB and SNR about this project and have been told that AAPB is interested but undecided and have not heard back from SNR.. I hope they participate. You might want to let them know, if you are a member, that you think it’s a good idea. I believe that polling has been a missing ingredient in trying to sell the idea of insurance reimbursement to politicians and insurers. Polling is a tool used by both politicians and businesspeople. They respect and depend upon and are accustomed to those numbers far more  than research data.

 

Co-sponsors of the poll ($minimum $200)  will be permitted to claim to be co-sponsors and will receive all the stats for the questions, including crosstabs which provide demgraphic details.

 

Here are some ideas I have for questions. I invite your comments criticism and suggestions. These can probably be improved upon.

 

Some approaches to health care—for pain, anxiety, stress and chronic illness—require training, work and practice. These tend to build self-reliance and self responsibility, but they also take more work and time to learn and, in the short term can cost more Most insurers do not currently pay for this kind of training and instead depend on presciptions for drugs and surgery.

 

1- Is the emphasis on drug and surgical treatments over lifestyle change and self-reliance and self responsibility oriented interventions affecting the national character and integrity?

-Yes. Depending on drugs and surgery is weakening our nation’s character and moral values.

-No Drugs and surgery are fast and practical means for treating illness

-Neither—drugs are against my religion

-Neither meditation, hypnosis, biofeedback and other mental approaches are against my religion

 

 

2-Should health care insurance provide coverage for the cost of training to build self-responsible health care, even though , in some cases  it can cost more. The price to our national character is worth it..

            Yes

            No

 

3Are you aware that biofeedback has been shown, through repeated research studies, to be effective in relieving or healing headache, many stress disorders, ADHD, closed head injury, spinal cord injury, incontinence, post-stroke paralysis, asthma, diabetes, epiliepsy and other chronic illnesses.

Yes

No

 

4Do you believe that health insurance should cover biofeedback as a therapy that provides a non-drug, non-surgical alternative to those who chose to take the time and make the effort to use it, instead of pills or surgery?

Yes

No

 

5The cost of biofeedback can be $1000-$5000, compared to a year’s drug therapy cost of $1000 or thousands of dollars cost for surgery and thousands of dollars costs for continued drug treatment over many years, while the cost for biofeedback, once it is “learned” stops. Should insurer invest more, up front, for biofeedback  (short term higher cost, long term lower cost ), for patients who chose to not take the drug or surgery option ?

Yes

no

 

In addition to asking questions on position, it can also be valuable to ask different demographic questions. The usual questions are about age, gender, political party, ideology, religion, education, income… But we can ask anything, like,

Do you have health care coverage?

Yes I get it free with my job

Yes, I get it free as a retiree

Yes I pay for it out of pocket as an independent or self employed workers

Yes, I am on Medicare

Yes I am on Medicaid

No, but my child is insured with the state’s program for children

No I am uninsured

 

Do you use or have you used alternative health care

No

Yes vitamin and herbal supplements

Yes yoga, meditation

Yes biofeedback

Yes chelation therapy, colonics,

 

So… please drop me a note with your suggestions, If you are responding to my posting on a listserve, then please respond to me at my own email address as well as the listserve. I’m on a tight deadline on this.

 

 

Rob Kall   

www.OpEdNews.com, www.futurehealth.org, www.brainmeeting.com, www.storycon.org, www.positivepsychology.net, www.quotationscentral.com

211 N. Sycamore St.   www.futurehealth.org 

Newtown, PA 18940 215-504-1700, fax 215-860-5374

Winter Brain, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology, StoryCon Summit  Meeting January 19-22, 2007,  Palm Springs, CA