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Health care: Choice or mandate?

The Divided We Fail platform says that all Americans should have access to affordable health care, including prescription drugs, and these costs should not burden future generations.

Something has gone wrong in America when millions of people are just one medical emergency away from bankruptcy and financial ruin. How many of us are sure we can get quality health care when we need it for our children, our loved ones, and ourselves? Something needs to change.

So how do we get from partisan gridlock to bipartisan action? It starts when our leaders sit down and discuss the issues.

On June 17th at 6:30 p.m., Tommy Thompson, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin, and Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader from South Dakota, discussed health care at the 6th Annual Templeton Lecture presented by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

The event addressed the question - health care: choice or mandate? - moving past rhetoric to real solutions to our health care crisis.

Tommy Thompson speaks about the state of health care.

Tom Daschle notes we have a long way to go.

Share your thoughts: We'd like to know. What would you do about health care?

Event archive

The entire event is available in written transcript form, as a podcast, and on Ustream:

Note: the event begins at about 20 minutes in the Ustream telecast.

About this event

The Annual John M. Templeton, Jr. Lecture showcases the best constitutional minds in America as they discuss economic liberties in a forum open to the public. The Sixth Annual Templeton Lecture, presented by the National Constitution Center in partnership with AARP, will consider the issue of health care, which has commanded national attention and become a focal point of debate during the 2008 presidential election process.

For more information, please visit the NCC event page.

Related Links:

National Constitution Center