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

I. Overview of Health Care Community Discussions

A. Introduction

This past December, thousands of Americans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia answered a call from the Presidential Transition Team to host and attend Health Care Community Discussions. The Transition Team's motivation for these grassroots discussions was to engage Americans and hear directly about their health care experiences and ideas. An overwhelming response of over 9,000 Americans signed up on the Presidential Transition Team's Web site, www.change.gov ("Change.gov"), to host Health Care Community Discussions and thousands more participated in these gatherings. All over the country, friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers, representing views of both health care recipients and providers, came together for conversations in homes, offices, coffee shops, fire houses, universities, and community centers with a common purpose: to discuss reforming our health care system to provide quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

After each Health Care Community Discussion, hosts were asked to fill out a Participant Survey and submit a group report to the Health Policy Transition Team summarizing the group's main concerns and suggestions. Committed to bringing all Americans to the table, the Health Policy Transition Team, a team of dedicated volunteers, and some employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spent thousands of hours reading and analyzing, line-by-line, the 3,276 group reports submitted to Change.gov. This report summarizes these Health Care Community Discussion participants' views on the health care problems Americans face and the solutions they propose.