March 23, 2009
Coping with the Cost of Health Care

George Mason University Prince William Campus Convenes National Issues Forum on April 3

MANASSAS, VA–George Mason University is convening a National Issues Forum on health care policy called “Coping with the Cost of Health Care,” on Friday April 3 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm in Room 130 of Bull Run Hall at the University’s Prince William Campus.

The public is invited to participate in the dialogue, which will break out into small moderated groups of 12 or less to consider each of three approaches on how Americans should pay for the health care we need: 1) reduce the threat of financial ruin, 2) restrain out-of-control costs and 3) provide coverage as a right. Participants will each receive a National Issues Forum guide.

“A National Issues Forum is more than just talk,” explains Charvis Campbell, Assistant Dean of University Life at the Prince William Campus of George Mason. “This is a face-to-face dialogue to hash out the trade-offs among the various approaches, and take a first step towards finding common ground. George Mason is pleased to be part of the process.”

“Forums like this one have taken place over the past year in over forty states and at the twelve Presidential Libraries,” said Bill Corbett of the Center for Voter Deliberation of Northern Virginia. “Forum participants come away with a better appreciation of points of view that differ from their own, and of how those who differ can work to find common ground.”

Among those making opening and closing remarks at the forum will be Senator Mark Warner’s health care policy aide, Aryana Khalid, a graduate of the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership and frequent speaker on the issue of affordable health care.

The forum is open to all students and residents of the community, and takes place a day after the Prince William Campus’ April 2 Health & Fitness Expo (10:00 am -2:00 pm, Bull Run Hall Atrium). To register for the April 3 forum, go to www.cvdnva.org, the Web site of the forum’s co-convener, the Center for Voter Deliberation of Northern Virginia.

Citizen Court Follows on Thursday, May 21

A unique Citizen Court on Public Deliberation will follow the April 3 forum on Thursday, May 21. Five experts and public officials will consider in a courtroom format how thoughtfully participants in the April 3 forum approached the trade-offs among coverage, costs and other challenges of health care reform. The Citizen Court will be open to the public, and it will issue a public decision.

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For media inquiries, contact: Bill Corbett, 703-927-0531 or Charvis Campbell, 703-993-8373

27 Thoughts to “Health Care Forum at GMU-PW on April 3”

  1. Moon-howler

    What exactly is the objective of this program?

  2. Anesthesia

    I think it is to raise awareness of and clarify issues in affordable health care and probably to discuss Obama’s budget.

  3. Moon-howler

    Is anyone going? Is anyone going to committee of 100 tomorrow night?

  4. Second-Alamo

    Mackie, do yourself a favor and go live in ANY other country of your choosing. Your internal strife is going to cause you to be miserable your entire life, and I don’t think you can get much worse!

  5. Segundo Alamo,

    Yes, I’m considering moving abroad in order to get paid in a foreign currency. That way, if the US dollar should collapse, I’ll still be making a decent salary instead of having my purchasing power wiped out.

    But then again, maybe it’s better to wait for the day when the american southwest secedes to form a separate country. If they set up their country the right way, it would be a great place to live.

  6. Gainesville Resident

    What makes you think some foreign currency will be better than US currency – if the US dollar collapses somehow it would probably cause many other currencies to collapse too. Or a better question is – what country’s currency do you think won’t collapse if the US dollar collapses?

  7. I will be at the Committee 100 meeting tonight, MH.

  8. This is from the News & Messenger: BREAKING NEWS UPDATE – Prince William Health Systems to affiliate with NC company Prince William Health Systems, which includes Manassas hospital said today that it has decided to affiliate with Novant Health Inc. of NC in an effort to expand services in the Manassas area. Read more on http://www.InsideNova.com.

    I will be at the Health Care Forum on April 3, MH.

  9. Moon-howler

    Thanks Cindy and Pinko. I hope you will both report in.

  10. Moon-howler

    Mackie, I would think about Gainesville’s remarks very carefully.

    If the US goes, so goes many other countries. Have you heard the bleak economic news out of countries like Great Brtain, Ireland, Iceland?

    Additionally, it is a real bear to even get hired in any of the European Union countries unless you are from a EU country. At least that is what people have told me who are in the know.

  11. Check out New Zealand. Their Prime Minister is about the only leader who is making any sense when it comes to this recession. I’ve also heard New Zealand is a very beautiful place to live. Getting a job with a company in New Zealand that supplies products to China looks like an attractive concept. And english is spoken there.

  12. “He Is The Hero” People rallies in the street for Lovelle Mixon who took 4 Oakland Colonial Stormtroopers with him.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6QKcARdl2w&feature=channel_page

    It’s interesting to note that all of the verbal comments in this video, could have come out of the mouths of blacks in South Africa living under apartheid, or Palestinians standing up to Israel, or Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.

  13. Moon-howler

    Mackie, I don’t think New Zealand is a big enough country for both you and AWCheney to live in.

    I think you have to be very wealthy to immigrate there. I don’t know the details.

  14. Second-Alamo

    Speaking of Africa Mackie, how is that working for them now that they kicked out the whites? Everybody happy? No tribal warfare? People in the cities behaving themselves? Better than it was before? Just wondering.

  15. Second-Alamo

    Mackie,

    I watched your little YouTube tribute to a criminal that took the lives of four police officers, and if this is what you are about, then I feel sorry for you. Hero? The prisons are full of your Heros! You need a better role model that’s for sure. Those people made illegal immigrants look like saints. I’d rather have two houses jammed with illegals than one family with that attitude.

    A little more info on your Hero:

    In October 2007, Lovelle Mixon was released on parole after serving five years of a six-year sentence for assault with a firearm. Within months the 26-year-old Oakland resident was in trouble again, authorities said.

    In February, Mixon was placed on a parole hold as a possible suspect in a homicide in Alameda County, according to Scott Kernan, undersecretary of operations for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Prosecutors declined to file charges in that case, saying there was not sufficient evidence, but Mixon was detained on various parole violations and sent back to prison for nine months”.

  16. Moon-howler

    SA, afraid I have to agree with you.

    SA is correct Mackie, this dude was a bad role model. You need a better hero.

  17. Actually Moon-howler, I don’t think that New Zealand is big enough for Mackie and anyone else. With his attitude, the Maori would probably bring back an ancient tradition just for him and toss him into one of their volcanoes just to have the excuse of getting rid of him. Then again, as tough as their immigration laws are (and they enforce them), he’d probably go on a work visa (assuming he’s in a needed occupation category…he’s just a kid so he’s young enough), but I doubt he would last long. His brand of racism is tolerated far less there than it is here. It’s one of the things I like about that country, along with the fact that you always know where you stand…they enforce their laws. I don’t think Mackie could live in that kind of environment. Anarchists like him are NOT tolerated.

  18. “But then again, maybe it’s better to wait for the day when the american southwest secedes to form a separate country. If they set up their country the right way, it would be a great place to live.”

    Actually Mackie, I think that would be the PERFECT place for you. If what you obviously support ever came to be, the territory would be run by the gangs and you’ll get a REAL taste of that culture for which you seem to long. Do everybody one favor though…NEVER COME BACK!

  19. Anesthesia

    I see Mackie is popular here.

  20. Lucky Duck

    Anesthesia, people get what they give….

  21. Poor Richard

    The latest chapter in the New York Times study of immigration is
    now on their website. The focus of this one is healthcare and the
    challenges of treating immigrants. It describes Hennepin Hospital
    in Minneapolis that has many immigrant patients, especially
    Hispanics and Somalis.
    A paragraph that hit home – “One of the challenges in treating
    immigrants is money. Hennepin has $45 million a year in cost that
    are not reimbursed, and though immigrants don’t account for all of it,
    they are a “major contributor’ said Mike Harristhal, the
    hospital’s vice president for public policy and strategy.”
    (It is my understanding our own PWH has over $12 million a year
    in unreimbursed cost – no small part from immgrants. Where
    are the resources to cover this? Charging other patients more
    for less care? From government/taxes? This is a huge issue
    and must be addressed.)

  22. Second-Alamo :
    Mackie,

    A little more info on your Hero:
    In October 2007, Lovelle Mixon was released on parole after serving five years of a six-year sentence for assault with a firearm. Within months the 26-year-old Oakland resident was in trouble again, authorities said.
    In February, Mixon was placed on a parole hold as a possible suspect in a homicide in Alameda County, according to Scott Kernan, undersecretary of operations for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Prosecutors declined to file charges in that case, saying there was not sufficient evidence, but Mixon was detained on various parole violations and sent back to prison for nine months”.

    I don’t know enough about this guy’s case to call him a hero but it’s interesting to see a whole community of people courageously rise up and call him one.

    It says a lot about the perspective of this community that so many people would publicly march in his defence. You probably do not understand the significance of that. You don’t understand the danger they are putting themselves in. By marching openly like that, they are making themselves targets for retaliation. Many will probably find their names placed in ‘terrorist’ databases.

  23. Lucky Duck

    Still not over that ride in the backseat of the police car huh Mackie?

    That guy was a thug for years. If that’s your perspective of a hero, you are a lost soul.

  24. Moon-howler

    Thanks for the update, Poor Richard. I just read that article. I don’t even think I can do a thread on it. There are no answers.

    You are right. It is a huge issue that must be addressed and I don’t even know where to begin. The issue is so complex.

    Here it the thread:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/health/29immig.html?hp

  25. Elena

    Health care, in general, is a huge issue, not an immigration problem. I tried getting healthcare, 14 years ago, in this area. I have a chronic health condition ( demyelination)and was told, after calling around to several different insurance providers, that I was, and I quote ” better off just saving my money, what I would spend in my monthly rate, and hoping I didn’t not have a relapse”, and THIS gem, this gem, was from an insurance provider! I know someone who had to declare bankruptcy, and I am very confident it was due to healthcare costs that resulted from a cancer stricken family member who ultimately died.

    Our health care system is broken. Are uninsured people a problem, immigrants included, you betcha. But let’s not piecemeal the crisis into undocumented immigrants and non immigrants, that simply will not address the crisis in a holistic manner.

  26. Always with the personal attacks, huh Lucky Ducky?

    I’m not sure what ‘ride in the backseat of the police car’ you’re referring to but then again, you do have a habit of always putting words in peoples’ mouths.

    I like the way you squirmed away from facing my point.

    Why do you think this whole community would march in defense of Mixon’s actions?

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