The Fight for National Health Care Reform, a Discussion Guide

Prepared by the National Education Commission, Communist Party USA, in collaboration with Political Affairs

Your club/group should invite guests to participate with you in a discussion of the fight for national health care reform. The podcast (audio version) and reading links provided below should be distributed well in advance of the meeting. The Political Affairs podcast features an interview with Flavio Casoy on the present struggle for national health care reform. The link for the text version of the interview is also below. The podcast interview is about 20 minutes long, so you can use it as the opening for the discussion in the meeting via computer.

Discussion questions to consider:

1. How does the concept of tactics relate to the current fight for national health care reform? What is the concept of the public option and how does the fight for the public option relate to the fight for a single payer system in the current debate and struggle for national health care reform?

2. How is the political far right using the issue of health care reform to attempt to derail the Obama election victory? Why is the fight for national health care reform seen as pivotal in the battle to consolidate the election victory over the political far right?

3. What can your club/group do to engage community members and co-workers in the discussion of and movement for national health care reform now?

Resources:

podcast: Public healthcare option, yes we can! A Political Affairs interview with Flavio Casoy (audio version)

See text version here

News and analysis:

Public Health Care Option is About Choice by Joel Wendland

How to Reform Medicare and Create National Health Care by Phil E. Benjamin

Howard Dean: Public health insurance is 'core fight' by Susan Webb

Theories of tactics and strategy:

Obama, reform and the role of the left by Sam Webb

Tactics: A Marxist Guide by Danny Rubin

Learn more about the Communist Party USA here.