Fact Sheet: Roundtable with Families and Meeting with Community Leaders in Detroit

  • The Campaign for an American Solution held an open to the press, public forum on Wednesday, August 13th in Detroit, Michigan.
  • A media advisory about the event was sent out on Friday, August 8th. A half dozen local print and radio reporters attended the event.
  • The public forum was held at Second Ebenezer Church (www.sebcoffice.org), one of the largest churches in the Detroit area.
  • Participants were recruited by local community leaders such as Mercy Primary Care, Detroit NAACP and Second Ebenezer Church.
  • Participants were not paid and were encouraged to speak candidly about their health care situation.  Some participants had health insurance, others did not.
  • The meeting was attended by various elected officials and community leaders including a representative from Congressman John Conyer's office, a leading advocate of Medicare for all.  His spokeswoman addressed the group as did other interested individuals in the audience.
  • In addition to the public forum, Karen Ignagni, CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans met with many leading local health care officials, including representatives from the Detroit Community Health Connection, Voices for Michigan's Children, Detroit Agency on Aging, Detroit Department of Health and Wellness, Michigan Council on Maternal Health, Detroit NAACP and Cover the Uninsured-Michigan.
  • The unedited video of the public forum will be available soon on this page.
  • Detroit was the second stop on a listening tour conducted by America's Health Insurance Plans' (AHIP) Campaign for an American Solution. The campaign is a new national grassroots and educational initiative to build support for workable health care reform based on six core principles: coverage, affordability, quality, value, choice and portability.  The Campaign for an American Solution is engaging in conversations about health care with Americans from all walks of life—those with coverage and those without, small business owners and employees, union leaders and members, physicians and other providers, and working families from diverse communities.