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

I. Overview of Health Care Community Discussions

C. Logistics

The Health Care Community Discussions were designed as a grassroots-driven effort to engage Americans on health reform. After Senator Tom Daschle announced these Health Care Community Discussions at a Colorado Health Summit and encouraged all Americans to "share their ideas about what's broken and how to fix it," the Health Policy Transition Team launched a sign-up page on Change.gov where anyone interested in hosting an event could sign up. The Change.gov sign-up page highlighted then President elect Obama's commitment to "health care reform that comes from the ground up" and noted "that's why this holiday season, we're asking you to give us the gift of your ideas and input." The Obama-Biden Transition Project Co-Chair John Podesta sent an e-mail to registered users of Change.gov encouraging them to help shape health reform by signing up to lead a Health Care Community Discussion. The homepage of Change.gov encouraged Americans to sign up as well. Numerous newspapers, news shows, and radio programs reported on the opportunity to host these community gatherings. Beginning on December 13, 2008, the Transition Team e-mailed a Moderator Guide to people who signed up at Change.gov to moderate a Health Care Community Discussion¹. The Guide offered suggestions for the planning of their event. This Guide outlined three possible goals for hosts:

1. "Engage in discussions with your friends and neighbors about health care reform and draft a group submission with your findings and conclusions. This will help the Transition Health Policy Team flesh out key issues around health care and give the Team fresh ideas about the best ways to promote the President-elect and Vice President-elect's vision of quality, affordable health care for all Americans;

2. Develop your group submission to the Transition Health Policy Team through a process that respects, empowers, and engages all attendees; and

3. Identify particularly poignant stories about health care from participants that can be used to help emphasize the need for health care reform in our country."

The Moderator Guide was only a reference for hosts, who ultimately decided how to structure their gatherings. The Transition Team welcomed different discussion formats – whether held at home as an informal gathering, at work with more structured break out sessions, or even online through blogs or chatrooms.

The Transition Team also e-mailed hosts a suggested Participant Guide to distribute to attendees at their Health Care Community Discussions². The Guide summarized major problems with our current health care system and provided background information on the President's health care agenda to provide every American high-quality and affordable health care. The Participant Guide also included several discussion questions that could be used to facilitate the conversations³. At the end of each Health Care Community Discussion, the Transition Team asked hosts to have attendees fill out a multiple-choice Participant Survey in the Participant Guide, which asked about the biggest problem in the health system, the best way for policy makers to develop a plan to address the health system's problems, and what additional input and information would best help people to continue to participate in the health reform effort.

The Transition Team encouraged Health Care Community Discussion hosts to report back on their Discussions by uploading a group report at the Change.gov reporting Web site. In addition to requesting a group report and Participant Survey responses, the Health Policy Transition Team encouraged hosts to upload a photo and/or video of their Health Care Community Discussion. The Transition Team encouraged Health Care Community Discussions to occur between December 15 and December 31, 2008, although reports submitted through January 4, 2009, were accepted and included in the analysis.⁴