Demonstrated Impact of CaliforniaSpeaks 2007

On August 11, 2007, nearly 3,500 Californians came together for a non-partisan conversation on health care reform.

Diverse groups of citizens gathered at sites in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside-San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Sacramento, Oakland-San Francisco, and Humboldt County, to weigh in on critical policy options being considered by state leaders. The eight conversations occurred simultaneously and were linked together by satellite.

To ensure that the diversity of the state was represented and the outcomes of the discussion were fair and credible, CaliforniaSpeaks invited a random sample of thousands of Californians to participate in the discussion.

Six proposed changes to the existing health care system were presented and discussed throughout the day. Participants identified what they liked, what concerned them, what was missing and the conditions, if any, under which they would support each of these changes.

In 2007, CaliforniaSpeaks participants emphatically called for reform. Now that the urgent discussion of health care reform is on a national stage, California needs to prepare for legislative reform in the context of our own priorities and constraints.

• Read more about the public’s priorities for health care reform from CaliforniaSpeaks 2007.
• Three independent studies evaluated the public impacts of the CaliforniaSpeaks statewide conversation on participants, the policy making process, and policy makers themselves.