Change.gov feature jump-starts health care discussion

A new feature called "Join the Discussion" was added Tuesday to President-elect Barack Obama's transition Web site, Change.gov, making the site more interactive for visitors.

The new page allows people to post to comments on a specific topic deemed a top priority by Obama. The page's first discussion focuses on health care and features a video from health care transition team members Dr. Dora Hughes and Lauren Aronson. As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,100 comments had been posted.

"A critical part of our health reform efforts is making sure every American voice is heard," Hughes says in the video. "We hope this is the beginning of a producitve and ongoing dialogue with Americans."

(Credit: Change.gov)

Obama amassed a large following on multiple social-networking sites during his campaign, including his own social-networking site, MyBarackObama.com. By contrast, Change.gov appeared decidedly Web 1.0 at its launch.

The new feature does not change that status much, as it simply allows people to post comments to the site. However, the page at least makes the comments viewable to other people. Other pages, such as "Share Your Story," feature a submission form that is sent to the transition team. Some stories submitted via that page have been featured on the Change.gov blog.

While the site still does not feature many user-driven elements, Obama's advisers have indicated the president-elect is interested in embracing Web 2.0 ideas like wikis to help solve America's problems. The transition team may be heading in that direction with the launch of the "Join the Discussion" page.

The page "will allow us get instant feedback from you about our top priorities," the Change.gov blog says. "We also hope it will allow you to form communities around these issues--with the best ideas and most interesting discussions floating to the top."

[sanenazok]

Sounds like Obama has been forced to develop some policies...finally. What worries me about healthcare? Costs, costs, costs. How's a larger government presence going to bring those down?

[Lerianis]

By making all insurance companies get together and negotiate for lower rates on treatments and drugs, with hospitals, drug companies, etc.<br /><br />Really, it's simply time to nationalize and socialize (oh, that so scary word to conservatives) health care in this country. Too many insurance companies, instead of trying to offer health insurance at a good price a reasonable profit to people, are trying to make the most profit they can and hike the rates up as high as they can, ala CareFirst.<br />I'll be blunt: I am a 28 year old male, with NO health problems (no HBP, no diseases, no heart ailments, no NADA)..... and I am still paying 328 dollars a MONTH for health insurance.... plus, 10/20 bucks for office visits and specialist care, WHICH I HAVE NEVER USED!<br />Now, why is my price so frigging high? It just doesn't make sense at all.

[scdecade]

Forgotten in the health care debate are the Constitutional Rights (and natural rights) of the doctors. The one thing that goes unsaid in all these debates is the inevitability of legislation removing a doctor's right to "opt out" of the "solution." Somewhere along the way we've lost our measure of worth for individual liberty and correct morality.

[Lerianis]

The doctors should not be able to 'opt out' of something that is VERY fair to them. No doctor should be making 1 million a year like my primary care doctor does. 'Necessary to our community' or not, why the hell do they keep on crying poverty when there are 15 of them at the office I got to, making anywhere from 500K a year to 1.5 million a year?

[DavoRider]

Couple questions: <br /><br />1) How does such an obvious campaign site qualify for a .gov domain name? <br /><br />(hint: it doesn't)<br /><br />2) Who, exactly, is this "government office" accountable to? <br /><br />(hint: nobody)<br /><br />Just because Bush used a .gov web site during his transition doesn't make it right. The site isn't even on government servers, but is instead hosted by Blue State Digital, the same group that hosted his fundraising site.

[dbackfan638]

We need to stop the corperate providers from not covering any one person period. And the Corperations who cover thier employees from reducing coverages and increasing costs to each employee.

[Lerianis]

True, but whenever someone talks about doing that, the companies start whining "It will put us out of business!" No, it won't...... if we REQUIRE everyone who is breathing to have health insurance, period and done with.

[JEngdahlJ]

Good to see the incoming administration using Web 2.0 to gather ideas from Main Street. There's a similar, more localized effort afoot in Seattle right now: a town hall meeting on healthcare reform and electronic health records. Interested parties can submit questions ahead of time using Facebook and LinkedIn; people can even win prizes for submitting questions that are used at the event. Join the "Healthcare Town Hall" groups on either site to submit a question. Or go to: <br /> <br />http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34957980823 <br /> <br />or <br /> <br />http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1226857