With the changes in the leadership and priorities of Congress and with new health care plans emerging at the state level, there appears to be more room for discussion of what we should do to address the problems of our nation's health care system. The proposal that Bush offered in the State of the Union address, however wrongheaded, may also lead to more attention for this issue.
Setting aside the nonstarter from Bush, I wonder how many of the proposals that are being discussed are addressing a broad range of the real anxieties Americans feel about our health care system. This leads me to my question: What are your top concerns about health care?
There has certainly been plenty of systematic polling about attitudes toward the health care system, such as this recent survey of Californians by the Field Poll and a survey from November 2006 by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. What I would like to do now is ask something more open-ended in order to learn more about the problems that you see in the health care system and the anxieties they cause.
On Daily Kos, there have been many insightful diaries by members such as nyceve and California Nurses Shum on the failings of our current system, the need for a new health care system that serves the needs of all Americans, and the political challenges of creating such a system. Those political challenges are considerable. We have seen those who benefit financially from the status quo are willing to instill fears about what change might mean.
As we try to communicate why a new health care system is needed, I think that we need to be sure that the vision we put forward addresses the anxieties that many Americans feel about the state of health care today. The fact that more than 47 million Americans lack health coverage is of vital importance, but there are also other sources of concern that we need to address. Simply having some form of health insurance today by no means implies that a person is without other concerns about the health care system.
Rather than construct a poll that limits you to a few choices that I formulate in advance, I would simply like to ask: What are your top concerns about health care?