A 2005 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that twice as many people rely on the media for information about health care as rely on doctors or friends or family combined. In 2007, with health care a major issue in the presidential campaign, people will lean on the press even more. Covering the complexities of the health-care debate is not easy. How can journalists make them clear? For the first in a series of Q&As with accomplished journalists on the main domestic issues of the campaign, CJR spoke to Julie Rovner, who covers health policy for National Public Radio. She was interviewed by Trudy Lieberman, who directs the health and medicine reporting program at the City University of New York’s graduate school of journalism, and is a longtime contributing editor to CJR.

How do you contrast the public discussion of health care as we approach the 2008 election with the discussion in 1992?
During this last year, I’ve been walking around saying, “Wow. It’s 1991!” So much of it feels the same. You’ve got businesses complaining about health-care costs and a worried middle class. On the other hand, I think the big difference is this sort of cynical “been there, done that, didn’t work” feeling that wasn’t there in 1991. And the numbers have gotten so much bigger. We’ve gotten so many more zeros. The costs have gone up that much more. The number of uninsured has gone up that much more. The number of solutions we’ve tried and that have failed has gone up that much more.

Is the public less likely to be swayed by commercials, such as the famous “Harry and Louise” ads, which helped derail the Clinton health-care plan in 1993?
I don’t think they’re less...

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