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This post was written for the 20 community colleges participating in Completion by Design, a five-year Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative that aims to significantly increase completion rates for low-income students under 26. As a “National Assistance partner” for Completion by Design, Public Agenda provides direct assistance to the colleges to help them build capacity for solutions-oriented dialogue among faculty, staff and administration. Here, Public Agenda's Alison Kadlec discusses best practices for authentic internal stakeholder engagement. While the post is geared toward Completion by Design planning teams, the principles are useful for any authentic engagement process.
***Far too often, throughout our work in the education field, we've seen even the most earnest and promising ideas from experts and reformers for improving schools and ramping up student learning met with confusion, anxiety or even anger from teachers, parents, students or community members.
A common reason given to change our health care system is it growing costs. If the costs shown in your chart at http://www.publicagenda.org/citizen/issueguides/health-care is accurate, it appears costs have not risen significantly since 1990. Please clarify the argument that costs are rising.
Terry Kay
2011 Public Agenda
Comments
When I think about about health care costs, I fantasize
about a REAL reporter interviewing Rush Limbaugh about the subject.
Reporter: Rush, do you think that half of personal bankruptcy filings being caused by crushing medical bills
is acceptable?
Rush: Absolutely not!
Rptr: What do you think should be done about it?
Rush: Change the bankruptcy Laws! Bankruptcy should be available only to businesses, as it was
originally. Personal bankruptcies should be abolished! And if we reinstituted Debtor's Prisons those medical
bills would be paid pronto!
Carl Croel
I think health care should be for everyone. Everyone's entitle to be seen if they get sick. I dont mind the government taking extra taxes from my paycheck to help out with health care. In this era 2010. Why should anyone be denied treatment. Who are we to put a price on a human being life? Why should an individual be denied treatment if they cant afford it. If a life can be save. Save it. Nevermind the cost. As a nation we have our priorites wrong. We put money before life.
It's obvious to see what spectrum your looking through.
I agree, i think that health care should be for everyone no matter what their income is. i work at a pharmacy and every day i see how health insurance affects peoples lives. For example, there are many senior citizens that have to pay a lot of money for their medications it breaksmy heart to see them waste most of their money on medicines. The worst thing is that many of them pay for an insurance that doesn’t even cover half of the medicine bill. the government has to help the middle class because with this economy things are getting harder and harder there are many families that cant afford to go out to eat any more because there paycheck is not enough.
I agree that health care should be universal and free for everyone, but there is a major problem here. If we do that, all previous private insurance companies will have to be abolished, and also, while everyone may have free or cheaper health care, they will no longer have the option of choosing their doctors. There will be longer lines at fewer doctor offices, and everyone will be going to the same generic government doctors, rather than privately paid ones that they can rely on. Free healthcare does not always mean it is going to be good healthcare or efficient.
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