A headline reporting a new Harris Poll survey stated that “Very few Americans find statements by financial institutions completely believable.”  One specific item of interest was that 51 percent of the respondents said that a statement made by someone who works for a health insurance company was believable (2 percent completely believable, 49 percent somewhat believable) while 49 percent answered not at all believable.  Banks, investment firms and government agencies that regulate financial institutions all fared poorly in the believability research. 

These results are not shocking in light of the health care debate and economic stresses that reverberate throughout the economy.  However, the survey shows the depth of the difficulty people have with companies and government agencies that are indispensible to their financial well being. 

This is a good time for intermediaries, whether they are trusted authors, financial advisors, academics and others to fill the void that is obviously missing in the public’s confidence in key industries.  Changes in health care, for example, are sure to cause people to have to rethink sometimes decades old strategies to financing coverage.  The health insurance industry will play a key role in the implementation of health reform, so designing a system in which the public has a basic level of trust is not a trivial matter.