SEEKING COMMENTS

The Citizens Health Care Working Group posed the following four questions to 23,000 individuals, experts, stakeholders, scholars, public officials and advocates in 30 states and the District of Columbia over the past 15 months. 

1. What health care benefits and services should be provided to American citizens?
2. How does the American public want health care delivered?
3. How should health care coverage be financed?
4. What trade-offs are the American public willing to make in either benefits or financing to ensure access to affordable, high quality health care coverage and services?

The Citizens Health Care Working Group was created by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, Sec. 1014 to facilitate informed national public debate about the services they want covered, what coverage they want, and how they are willing to pay. The Working Group has published their interim recommendations and will be accepting public comment on the recommendations until September 1, 2006 either online at http://www.CitizensHealthCare.gov; or by email to citizenshealth@ahrq.gov.

The recommendations include the following:
· It should be public policy that all Americans have affordable health care.
· Define a core benefit package for all Americans.
· Guarantee financial protection against very high health care costs.
· Support integrated community health networks.
· Promote efforts to improve quality of care and efficiency.
· Fundamentally restructure the way that palliative care, hospice care and other end-of-life services are financed and provided, so that people living with advanced incurable conditions have increased access to these services in the environment they choose.

To learn more about the interim recommendations go to: http://www.CitizensHealthCare.gov.