How Americans can access quality health care is a major concern for both policymakers and citizens.

1. Many Americans receive health care benefits from their employers. Some people pay for their insurance themselves. A significant number of people are uninsured for a variety of reasons. There are many ideas about how to reform the American health care system in order to reduce the overall costs of care and to enable more people to have access to quality care. Does government have a role and responsibility to address health care issues?

• Should the primary responsibility for individual health care coverage rest with government or individuals?
  
  
• What are some of the policy solutions that people have developed to address the issue of providing insurance coverage for uninsured people? Describe several proposed solutions.
  
  
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of some of the proposed plans?

2. Some people say that the United States should develop a national health care system as a solution to some of the problems facing the current American health care system.

• What are some of the benefits of a national health care system?
  
  
• What are some of the drawbacks of such a system?
  
  
• What are the benefits of the American health care system as it currently exists?
  
  
• What are the drawbacks of our current system?

3. Whether or not to reform Medicare, a government program to support uninsured elderly people, is an important health care policy issue. The country's elderly population is rising and medical costs for the elderly are rising as well, causing some to say that the Medicare program needs to be reformed.

• What should government's role and responsibility be regarding health care for the elderly?
  
  
• What are some of the solutions people have developed to address Medicare's rising costs?
  
  
• What are some of the benefits of the solutions you have identified?
  
  
• What are some of the drawbacks of the solutions you have identified?
  
  
• What services for the elderly, if any, should your local community be responsible for? Explain your rationale.