The Politico (12/30, Frates) reported that President-elect Barack Obama's transition team is calling for meetings across the country in which attendees offer ideas regarding healthcare reform. Seeking "political intelligence it could use to sway lawmakers and special interest groups in the upcoming healthcare reform debate," the team is collecting "insights" on public healthcare concerns. The transition team is also collecting demographic information on meeting hosts "that the new administration could use to rally constituents in a key congressional district." Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, "Obama's pick to lead the" Department of Health and Human Services, attended one such meeting Tuesday in Washington, DC.
The AP (12/31, Freking) adds that those attending the meeting in Washington suggested that healthcare reform "doesn't have to be all about expanding health insurance. It can be about the little things too, such as shorter waits in the doctor's office, and putting in place incentives, such as free checkups, that catch little problems before they became big ones." Daschle commented that discussions "like Tuesday's will put the new administration 'on the right track' for overhauling the nation's healthcare system next year."
At a separate meeting of "hospital executives, government health officials, private physicians, an insurance salesman, [and] a consumer advocate" Tuesday in Columbus, OH, attendees "found plenty of common ground," Ohio's Business First of Columbus (12/30) noted. Each "participant listed his or her top priority, all of them belonging in one of three interlocking categories of access to healthcare, wellness, and cost." While "some suggested looking outside the traditional healthcare system for solutions," they "agreed that private and government insurance turn incentives upside down." The current system, the group contended, rewards "catastrophic care and treatment of illness over screening and prevention."
According to the San Jose Mercury News (12/30, Gumz), "About 120 people gathered Monday night" in San Jose, CA, to discuss healthcare reform. The group first "diagnosed the problems, then they prescribed solutions to fix a fractured system where too often the choice of a doctor is made by an insurance company." Attendees called for a single-payer healthcare system, better access to preventive medicine, and the removal of insurance companies from the healthcare system.
The Indianapolis Star (12/31, Sheeley) reports on the healthcare concerns voiced by a number of Indiana citizens at a meeting Monday, "the first attended by Daschle...and Vice President-elect Joe Biden." Daschle noted that, although the stories shared by attendees were "really hard to listen to in many ways," such meetings are "a necessary part of changing healthcare." Critics of the failed efforts at healthcare reform during former President Bill Clinton's first term claimed that "the process then was too secretive and was mishandled," the St. Petersburg Times (12/31, Bogues) adds. But, "Obama has long touted his background as a community organizer...and structured his presidential campaign to rely on grass-roots efforts." These meetings "mark his first attempt at using his community network to assist in governing since becoming President-elect."
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