Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, students will have learned:

• Collaboration: students will work together and learn from each other through discussion
• Civil conversation and conflict resolution: students will learn how to listen, understand and respect one another’s views, especially when there are differences of opinion and background.
• Research and analysis: students will have a deeper understanding of different perspectives (including their own, their classmates, and the country at large) through researching and discussing

See how this program complies with Common Core standards.

Suggested Curriculum / Class Plan

Homework Prior to Class

Students will spend 10-20 min looking at the most recent news about Healthcare from different perspectives.

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In Class

If you’d like to have an in-class discussion, divide students into small groups, preferably with a mix of biases. (Educator may need to have students complete a simple bias quiz for homework 2 days prior so the Educator has a chance to evaluate relevant classroom biases, if a similar test has never been conducted previously.)
If you’d like to have an online discussion with a classroom that holds different political views, utilize the Mismatch platform.

Discussion Questions:
Pick and choose from the following list of discussion questions, and give students time to discuss them in small groups. If time permits, also have students come back into a larger class-wide discussion to share their thoughts.

Healthcare:

• What does it mean to have a right to health?
• What do you do when you are sick or hurt and you need to go to the doctor?
• Can you think of reasons why a person might find it difficult to get care when they are sick or hurt?
• What does it mean to have healthcare coverage?

Healthcare Reform:

• Should providing healthcare for all be the government’s responsibility?
• When it comes to “fixing” the healthcare system, do you trust the president and Congress?
• Is access to healthcare more important than how much healthcare costs?
• Overall, would you rate existing healthcare coverage in this country as excellent or good?
• Should Congress should try to reform healthcare gradually as opposed to enacting a comprehensive reform package?
• Do you support adding taxes on the wealthiest Americans to pay for the healthcare subsidies?
• Do you think the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) has been successful? Why or why not?
• How can it be improved?
• Should the ACA be repealed all together? Why or Why not?

Other Healthcare Questions:

• Some people see financial incentives and drivers behind health services as a problem – while others do not. What do you think?
• Do you trust doctors? Do you do what they tell you to do? Why or why not?

Deeper Meaning questions:

• How are your healthcare needs are met? Are you happy with your healthcare?
• What do you think is the right balance between individual, business, government and other ways
• in providing healthcare?
• Do you believe you get a good value for your healthcare dollars?
• What else would you like to say about healthcare?
• What do you think of businesses who do or don’t provide health insurance for their employees?

Final Questions to pose to students, either as homework or just as a wrap up:

• What is one important thing you thought was accomplished here?
• Is there a next step you would like to take based upon the conversation you just had?

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Optional Homework Assignments

• Have students write a 300 word reflection after the Healthcare class discussion — what did they learn? Did they have any interesting disagreements? Why do they think discussions about our environment matter?