"Access to insurance is the gateway to better health care."
	--Senator John McCain Questionnaire Response
	"Protecting and promoting health and wellness in this nation is a shared responsibility among individuals and families, school systems, employers, the medical and public health workforce, and federal and state and local governments."
	--Senator Barack Obama Questionnaire Response
	"Improving the health and well-being of Americans isn't limited to improving our health care system."
	--Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Questionnaire Response

Launched in the fall of 2007, the Aspen Health Stewardship Project is an initiative by the Aspen Institute to reframe and broaden the national dialogue on health care reform leading up to the 2008 presidential election and beyond. Consistent with the Institute’s history and ideals, the project has convened a bipartisan group of thought leaders to help make progress against the challenges that lie in wait. The project has developed principles to help chart the wisest course for the nation’s health care reform efforts and related questions to pose to the presidential candidates, the responses to which will be published.

A major premise of this project is that surmounting the many barriers will require changing a culture in health care that is designed to protect and perpetuate the status quo. The current system makes it difficult, if not impossible, for Americans to be thoughtful, active and responsible stewards of their overall health. Cultural change also will require a shift in the focus of the public dialogue. Only by reframing the health care debate from one focused on the symptoms of the country’s broken system to one focused on causes, can the country have a more substantive discourse about the stewardship role each of us play in creating a healthier America.

The project is chaired by Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey and founder of the Whitman Strategy Group; Mark Ganz, president and CEO of Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield; Joe Hogan, president and CEO of GE Healthcare; and Elizabeth Teisberg, associate professor at the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business and co-author of the seminal book Redefining Health Care.

In addition to the co-chairs, the project features an advisory board of 10 people, including doctors, scholars, health policy experts and information technology leaders. The full list of board members is provided on the Advisory Board page. The project also is supported by a team of faculty researchers from the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. The project’s director is Michelle McMurry, M.D., Ph.D., of the Institute.