HEALTH REFORM: Stories from America

Over at The Washington Post's Daily Dose, Ceci Connolly has another excellent Monday morning update, laying out the state of play for health reform.

Connolly notes that with Congress out, "the White House is filling the health-care space with a series of events—in person and over the Internet—to keep the spotlight on the president's top domestic priority."

First, there was the national health care day of service, this past Saturday. Today, at 5 pm, Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, will host a live-streamed, online discussion of health care reform. (Check the White House's Facebook page for more). Secretary of HHS Kathleen Sebelius will talk health care on MSNBC's Dr. Nancy at noon.

On Wednesday, the President will host another town-hall discussion in Annendale, VA, with Americans able to submit questions online via YouTube and Twitter (hash tag: #WHHCQ). See the president's message below:

Finally, Vice President Joe Biden sent out an email this morning touting Health Care Stories for America. Designed by Obama's political arm, Organizing for America, the site has collected hundreds of thousands of stories of how the health care crisis has affected Americans personally (You can submit your story here). In another example of social networking meets social change, visitors to the site can share stories through the usual channels (Facebook, Digg, Delicious, etc.) and vote to amplify the particularly moving stories, increasing the chance others will see it.

Particularly neat is the ability to type in a location and find stories from the surrounding area. It's important to put a human face on a debate that can devolve into complicated minutiae. Like Brian, whose father had to take on a second job to provide health insurance for his family of six, or Linda who avoids going to the doctor because she can't afford the high costs that remain her responsibility under her high-deductible plan . As Vice President Biden writes, "For folks who don't yet understand why health care reform is such an urgent priority, these stories make the case far better than any statistics ever could."