The 90-minute event was organized in one week, with thousands of e-mailed invitations sent. Attendees were divided into groups that discussed seven questions. The summarized results were sent to the transition team the next afternoon.
Among those who attended were doctors, lawyers, insurance experts, legislators, retirees with expertise in health care, hospital lobbyists and ordinary citizens, as well as former Obama campaign volunteers.
Tom Flynn, who once headed a civic group in North Laurel, described a health care problem that several in his group said they, too, have faced - a grown child too old for family insurance but without a job that provides health insurance.
To afford treatment for a chronic condition, Flynn said, his son needs a job with benefits, but he can't get one until he gets the treatment he needs - a circular predicament many face.
Beilenson summarized the problems with four words - access, quality, cost and prevention.
The first question asked participants to name the biggest problem in the current system.
In one group, Jack Day said the main problem is that 50 million people across the nation are uninsured. Dr. Seth Eaton, a primary care physician, noted waste, high costs and a lack of preventive programs. Ron Carlson, a health care consultant, pointed to behavioral health, including smoking, poor eating habits and lack of exercise.
Frank Chase, a retired federal Medicare worker, said he had a more basic issue. "I dispute the idea that there is a system. At present, it's a fiasco," he said. "We've got to create one, and we don't need insurance companies to accomplish that."
Obama's plan would keep both employer coverage and insurance companies involved in health care while trying to reform the worst aspects of both.
That approach didn't please some.
"Employer-based coverage is part of the problem," Day said. "Obama's made a big mistake backing that."
Employers aren't expected to provide car insurance, another person suggested, so why health insurance?
But Eaton said that a complete transformation is unlikely. "It's too radical a step now, given the political situation," he said.
His wife, Karen Bonnie Eaton, a retired health management attorney, argued that employers should remain key players because of their ability to negotiate better terms for people needing insurance.
All kinds of ideas were discussed, even taxing behavior like watching TV to make people exercise more. That suggestion got no support.
Pegeen Townsend, a lobbyist for the Hospital Association of Maryland, said primary care physicians should be paid more to encourage better care and more practitioners.
Seth Eaton said his practice can't afford to offer health insurance to his employees' families, which is distressing.
"It's like the cobbler who can't provide shoes for his workers," he said.
