Be Heard On Healthcare: The Citizens’ Health Care Working Group

[In our continuing effort to be a nexus for healthcare innovation and collaboration, HealthNex welcomes Jessica Federer and her organization, The Citizens' Health Care Working Group, to our mix, and urge Americans to become part of the group's important efforts to listen directly to what Americans have to say about healthcare. ]

Guest Blogger: Jessica Federer, Citizens’ Health Care Working Group

What’s that you say? The President and Congress have to listen to what I think about health care? Normally, I wouldn’t believe it either, but thanks to some little known legislation in the Medicare Modernization Act, that’s now the case. The law created The Citizens’ Health Care Working Group  – a group of 14 individuals from various backgrounds - and charged them with asking Americans for their views on health care.

Even better, the law requires the President to respond to the Working Group’s recommendations, and designates five committees to hold hearings on them.  As a result, the American public is getting directly involved in this important dialogue.

Nothing like this has been tried before, but based on the incredible response that the Working Group has received from people across the country to date, this approach promises to be a great way to identify health care solutions and build consensus around them.

Now here is where you get involved. Before the Working Group makes its preliminary recommendations in June, they want to hear from as many people as possible. We’ve made it easy to participate- just answer the Health Care Poll at www.citizenshealthcare.gov or attend one of the many community meetings we are having across the country.

The list of community meetings is on our website, and I’d encourage you to read some of the news on these meetings to get an idea of what people are saying. There was a great piece in Philly.com this week, as well as articles in USA Today and the LA Times.

In a couple hours I will be flying to Des Moines, for our meeting there tomorrow. There’s another meeting in Philly on Monday, and Las Vegas on Tuesday. Details and online registration are on our site. I’ll also be posting information about other opportunities to participate….but for starters, answer the health care poll online, and encourage others to do the same.

So if you care about the transformation of healthcare, and want to be heard, this is your opportunity to be part of the innovation process.

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Comments

[Matthew Holt]

This process strikes me as total bullshit. There is no need to try to find out the problems in the health care system--they're self evident and have been obvious for 20 years. And frankly they're little changed from when Hillary Clinton "rediscovered" them 12 years ago, and from when Jay Rockerfeller & Claude Pepper investigated them 20 years ago

This entire process will waste a lot of paper and do nothing.

[Jessica Federer]

Thanks for your candor. I agree- we already know what the problems are, and so does the Working Group. This process is not to discover the problems, but rather to engage individuals across the country in finding potential solutions.

This group was created to engage the public in the process to find solutions- a bottom-up approach to health policy making. And for those who are skeptical that their representatives will listen to anything they have to say, the law requires five committees to hold hearings on them.

But again, thank you for your frank comments. This process may not yield the immediate results that you personally would hope for, but it has already succeeded in engaging thousands of individuals across the country in an informative, productive process to find potential solutions.