Health Care Listening Initiative Arrives in Philadelphia as Stop in Year-Long Tour

Initiative conceived to change the way health care is discussed and policies are created.

Washington, DC – Real People. Real Talk. comes to Philadelphia Friday as part of a national tour to listen to people’s lived experiences as the basis for a roadmap for health care reform. 

Through our Real People. Real Talk conversation series, United States of Care is listening to people across the country to hear about experiences, values, and needs. The common experiences and sentiments that surface will allow United States of Care to identify priority areas of focus for health reform efforts to build a better, durable, fiscally responsible, and responsive health care system. 

“We believe that people largely agree when it comes to health care and the needs of their families, but political rhetoric often masks these similarities,” said Natalie Davis, Senior Director of Public Engagement and co-founder of United States of Care. “In over 30 hours of conversations so far – from a kitchen table in San Diego, to a restaurant in Dallas, to phone calls and digital engagement, to various locations across Philadelphia –  we’ve heard commonalities of experiences, frustrations, and needs. Centering health reform on the needs of people, putting aside partisan rhetoric, and demonstrating that common-sense reform is possible is core to our mission. We want to create solutions that are both for the people and by the people.”

Real People. Real Talk’s story sharing tools – a blog series, Instagram platform and in-person conversations – gives policy experts the chance to Listen Loudly, a concept that calls for listening without preconceived bias. This approach gives policy experts the chance to understand common experiences and problems in our health care system directly from the people impacted. Additionally, the blogs will track health care commonalities and trends over time, with the goal of creating a new national conversation that puts the needs of people at the center of health reform. 

United States of Care’s Voices of Real Life Bhavna Mehta, an advisor to Real People. Real Talk. said “If we think about the power of people to reform the health care system, we must consider how their experiences and stories have a direct connection to their health.”