U.S. Residents Discuss Health Reform at Private House Parties

The New York Times on Tuesday examined one of the more than 4,200 house parties to discuss health care reform between Dec. 15 and Dec. 31 that were requested by former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), head of President-elect Barack Obama's health transition team and nominee for HHS secretary. The Times highlighted one house party in Northern Virginia, which had 12 participants.

The party's participants "quickly agreed on one point: they despise health insurance companies," according to the Times. In addition, they agreed that "health care was a right; that insurance should cover 'everything,' not just some services; and that coverage should be readily available from the government, as well as from employers," according to the Times. "The Obama transition team did not ask people how a new health care system should be financed, but several people" at the party "said that individuals and businesses should have to pay a small health care tax ... so that everyone could be covered," the Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 12/23).