A new analysis of the results of the 2008-2009 National Issues Forums on Coping with the Cost of Health Care indicates that forum participants see the nation's health care system as at or near the breaking point and no longer able to be sustained. Public Agenda's report, based on discussions involving more than 1,000 citizens in deliberative forums held in 40 states and the District of Columbia, shows that U.S. citizens are so gravely concerned about the cost of health care that many worry about it daily. Their concerns are wide and varied:
- being wiped out financially by a catastrophic illness,
- losing employer-provided coverage due to a job loss,
- keeping up with escalating co-pays and deductibles, and
- paying for even minor medical expenses – a problem for the nearly 50 million uninsured.
Participants in National Issues Forums on this subject overwhelmingly favored some kind of national health care program that would ensure appropriate medical care for all citizens. But participants were uncertain how to proceed and what such a system would look like, suggesting that the public has not reached a considered public judgment about what direction reform should take.
The findings of this report, prepared for the Kettering Foundation, suggest more work is required to move the national dialogue forward: people need a clear set of policy choices, with inherent costs and trade-offs spelled out, with an opportunity to deliberate about those options.
