Interest in health care, and health care reform, have hit a fever pitch with President Obama’s speech last night and the public debates (and arguments) that have precipitated it. I wanted to let readers know about a new resource to think through the issue of health care costs and what to do about them.

It’s a new online dialogue developed by the National Issues Forums Institute, based on the issue guide I wrote called Coping With The Cost Of Health Care: How Do We Pay For What We Need?

I am excited about this online dialogue tool, which was developed and coded by my friends at Ascentum. I helped adapt the issue book text, and noted researcher John Doble developed the questions.

Here’s what NIFI says about the new tool:

To foster public dialogue on the rising costs of health care, the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) has developed a Web site which is based on the issue book titled Coping with the Cost of Health Care: How Do We Pay for What We Need?

Go to the health care workbook website, perform a quick and simple registration, and you will be ready to log in and give your responses, and share your own stories in the online workbook. Completing the workbook takes about 30 minutes, but you can spend some time on it, log out, and come back later to complete your workbook or to add your own stories.

By completing the workbook and sharing your stories and ideas, you can contribute to a national dialogue on health-care affordability. After you complete the workbook, you will also be asked if you would like to register for the chance to be part of a series of online deliberations this fall.