Health Care Reform Forum July 30, 2009

The forum be in the conference room on the Third Floor. This forum will follow the non-partisan, structured “deliberative dialogue” format promoted by the National Issues Forum (NIF).

Health care reform is a hot topic as President Obama pushes both houses of Congress to complete work on bills by August 1, with the target to have a bill signed by October 1. Much uncertainty swirls around the questions of whether all currently uninsured will be covered, will there be a government run plan, how much will it cost, and how will it be paid for. Much is at stake in this issue, so the discussion should be interesting!

A clearly written, issue book or “discussion guide” produced by NIF, entitled “Coping With the Cost of Health Care - How Do We Pay for What We Need?” frames the issue by presenting the overall problem and then outlines three broad approaches to the problem. Forum participants will be asked to work through the issue by considering each of the three approaches; examining what appeals to them or concerns them, and also what the advantages, costs, consequences, and potential tradeoffs are for each approach.

The issue book and other materials are available for download from http://comingtogether.us.com/Health%20Care.htm. Participants are strongly encouraged to read the issues book before attending the forum, so that we can have a fully informed discussion.

Rick Olson, an NIF trained moderator, will be moderating the session. Space is limited to 32 participants, so please RSVP to Rick at [email protected]

Official Website: http://comingtogether.us.com/Health%20Care.htm