This weekend, it was reported that former Senator and President-Elect Obama’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Daschle, has requested that Americans host Health Care Community Discussions across the Country over the holidays this December to help his Policy Team put together their final recommendations for the Obama Administration.  If you are interested in hosting a Health Care Community Discussion in your home or in your neighborhood anytime from December 15th to the 31st, you should sign up at www.change.gov.  You will be provided a special “moderators kit” to conduct your meeting and to provide feedback to Tom Daschle’s office.  

I signed up!  On the application, I said that I would invite to participate in the discussion, both employers and employees and also people with chronic medical problems and people who have few medical problems.  I also said that this new administration must consider the Internet as an untapped opportunity to deliver health care to those without easy access and to those who can not afford traditional health care.  I said that the Internet allows us to deliver health care effectively, safely, and less expensively.  I believe that the Internet remains a largely untapped mechanism for the delivery of health care.  Shouldn’t I be able to go on line to see my physician and be charged $20 instead of seeing him in his office for $75?