CaliforniaSpeaks Today

The outcomes of our national health care debate will have a major impact on California. Whether reform passes or fails, it will impact the services that are required of local and state agencies, the new policies that need to be considered by state leaders, and the programs that must be delivered by private and nonprofit organizations across the state. All of these potential changes raise critical questions for California: 

• What should California be doing in the coming months to get ready to implement health care reform should it pass or fail? 
• How will California’s budget crisis affect the implementation of health care reform?

Our state as a whole will be in a better position to respond to the outcomes of the national healthcare debate if we begin the process now of considering the different scenarios that may unfold and exploring the implications for California. With this in mind, CaliforniaSpeaks, with the support of Blue Shield of California Foundation, is initiating a planning process to design a statewide conversation on how California should respond to the outcomes of the national health care debate.

Over the coming months CaliforniaSpeaks will consult with a variety of stakeholders and the general public to identify a comprehensive list of key issues and recommendations that the state should address following the conclusion of the national health care debate.

The effort will build upon the statewide dialogue on health care conducted by CaliforniaSpeaks in 2007, which engaged 3,500 Californians across eight cities.

CaliforniaSpeaks is being directed by AmericaSpeaks, a non profit, non partisan, based in Washington D.C. committed to elevating the role of the people’s voice in public decision making.