President Barack Obama released a healthcare reform report Thursday through the Department of Health and Human Services summarizing more than 3,000 neighborhood discussions held nationwide last December.
The report comes as the president met with a bipartisan mix of lawmakers and healthcare stakeholders at the White House to launch his reform agenda. It backs the president's push for urgency on healthcare reform, noting widespread concern from the American public over the issue.
Among his campaign promises, Obama had pledged to give Americans a greater voice in policymaking. More than 9,000 people signed up in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to host a Health Care Community Discussion, and thousands more participated in the gatherings. Group reports from 3,276 discussions as well as surveys completed by 30,603 participants were collected and analyzed and are summarized in the report, according to HHS.
The Obama administration also launched a new Web site, www.healthreform.gov, to make the report and other health reform information available. "This new Web site ... and report ensure that when we discuss health reform, the American people will have an equal stake in the health reform efforts," said HHS Spokeswoman Jenny Backus.
In announcing his budget proposal last week, Obama urged Congress to support healthcare reform that includes a new emphasis on pay-for-performance for Medicare providers, revamping Medicare Advantage, steeper competition on pharmaceutical companies and a government crackdown on inadvertent and fraudulent overpayments under Medicare.
Obama has pledged to pass healthcare reform legislation this year and indicated Congressional committees would begin the process.
"There has been some talk that maybe we're taking on too much," the said in closing remarks at the White House summit. "Let's be clear: When times were good, we didn't get it done. "
In an open discussion at the summit, Obama said he welcomed ideas from all factions, but warned against clinging to old principles that may not be substantiated.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) warned against a federally sponsored program that would crowd out private healthcare.
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), a long-time health reform advocate who is under treatment for a brain tumor, attended the summit and said, "this time we will not fail."