Americans Speak on Health Reform: Report on Health Care Community Discussions

I. Overview of Health Care Community Discussions

B. Motivation

This Administration has made clear that health reform is a top priority – and recognizes that few challenges we face are as complex and consequential as fixing our health care system. The potential of health care to extend and improve the lives of Americans is enormous and ever expanding: once life threatening diseases are now curable, and conditions that once were devastating are now treatable. But to seize this potential, we must reform our fl awed system that fails to deliver affordable, accessible, and high-quality health care to all Americans. The system suffers from a number of problems: health care costs are skyrocketing; over forty-five million Americans have no health insurance; many Americans who have insurance lack quality and affordable care; and our investment in prevention and public health is inadequate and fails to prevent or manage the rapid spread of chronic diseases. In the current economic crisis, health reform is even more essential in order to get the economy back on track. President Obama has commented that "in order to fix our economic crisis, and rebuild our middle class, we need to fix our health care system too...it's clear that the time has come – right now – to solve this problem: to cut health care costs for families and businesses, and provide affordable, accessible health insurance for every American."

But to successfully reform our health care system, the President believes we must first fix the process itself. Health reform cannot be achieved through closed-door meetings and ideas from Washington players alone. Instead, the Administration is committed to an open and inclusive process that allows everyday Americans to have a voice and direct involvement in our country's health care reform efforts. The rationale is that, through their own experiences, Americans know what works, what does not, and what can be done to help all Americans have access to affordable, quality health care and to live longer, healthier lives.

In December 2008, the Presidential Transition Team sought to tap into this knowledge by encouraging all Americans to participate in Health Care Community Discussions. Explained by then President-elect Obama, "Providing quality affordable health care for all Americans is one of my top priorities for this country because our long-term fiscal prospects will have a hard time improving as long as sky-rocketing health care costs are holding us all down. Yet in order for us to reform our health care system, we must first begin reforming how government communicates with the American people. These Health Care Community Discussions are a great way for the American people to have a direct say in our health care reform efforts, and I encourage Americans to take part if they are able. I am looking forward to hearing back from you." The Transition Team asked hosts of the Health Care Community Discussion to submit the compiled results from a Participant Survey and submit a group report summarizing their stories, their discussion, and their ideas.

These Health Care Community Discussions, therefore, represent two related Administration commitments: to an open, inclusive style of governance that engages Americans in the policy process and to health reform that is directly responsive to the problems Americans face, the stories they share, and the solutions they offer. This new approach may break the old barriers to forging a health system that is affordable, available, and high-quality for all Americans.