Citizen Solutions: Health
A Different Conversation About Fixing Health Care
Staff contact: Annie Levenson-Falk (alevensonfalk[at]citizensleague.org, 651-289-1072)
The Citizens League and the Bush Foundation are leading an effort to engage citizens and businesses around Minnesota in defining values and priorities for health reform in our state.
The Objective
The current health care system is not working for Minnesota. Out work has confirmed that citizens, business people, health professionals, and government agree. Policy leaders are working on reform -- and they need input from citizens to do so.
In late 2011, Governor Dayton established the Health Care Reform Task Force -- a bi-partisan committee of legislators, state agency chiefs, and health care leaders -- and directed it to develop strategies that will lead to better care, lower costs, and healthier communities.
While health reform has technical components, this and virtually all policy issues have value questions at their root. They are difficult precisely because they involve differing values and involve prioritizing different interests. What kind of society do we want to be? What is our collective responsibility to one another? What are we willing to collectively pay for?
These are by nature questions that cannot be solved by the "experts." Answering questions of values requires citizen participation and input.
Community Conversations
In the spring and summer of 2012, we will be traveling the state to bring citizens into this discussion with a series of community conversation and online on CitiZing®.
We'll provide key facts and trends, and ask you to work through some of the tough questions at the root of health reform:
- What is "health?"
- What supports health? What gets in the way?
- How can we as individuals and as a society afford health?
- What do we have a right to expect, and what are we responsible for?
In August, the Citizens League will deliver a report to the task force on the values and priorities that we've heard from people and businesses across the state.
How to Participate
- Join in online: Join policy makers and other citizens from around Minnesota in online conversations at www.citizensolve.org.
- Attend a community conversation in your area: Meetings will be held through mid-July. See the schedule and register at health.citizensolve.org/calendar/list.
- Engage your community group, business group, or network to let people know about this opportunity: Contact Laura LaCroix-Dalluhn at laura.lacroixdalluhn[at]gmail.com to find out more.