The forum was opened by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and featured a keynote address from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In addition to the Secretary’s address, the forum included two panel discussions on education and health care reform.

Congressman Artur Davis (D-Ala.) was featured on the education reform panel that included Democrats for Education Reform Executive Director Joe Williams, DLC Senior Fellow and Education Sector co-founder and publisher Andy Rotherham, and Loranne Ausley, from the Florida House of Representatives, District 9.

The forum also featured a health care reform panel featuring Congressman Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Chair of the Blue Dog Health Care Task Force, Chairman and CEO of eHealth Gary Lauer, and Dr. Jonathan Gruber, an MIT economist who helped design the Massachusetts health reform plan.

You can see our interviews below with Bruce Reed, Loranne Ausley, and Gary Lauer.

Click below to see full archived footage from the event.

Bruce Reed, DLC CEO

Gary Lauer, Chairman and Chief Executive Office for eHealth

Loranne Ausley, Florida House of Representatives, District 9

State Efforts to Expand Broadband Access
National Governors Association
May 20, 2008

• Broadband communication is radically transforming the way in which Americans use the Internet by providing the ability to access voice, video, and data through a single network.
• There are benefits in having access to educational institutions or telemedicine applications through the Internet.
• The study recommends a variety of successful approaches to spur broadband in the states.

Click here to read an executive summary of the study.

Click here to read the full study.

Click Here to Read the Full Article

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• Ranks in the top 5 in the deployment of residential and business broadband lines. (Dr. Rob Atkinson, The 2007 State New Economy Index)

• Total economic impact of $7,531,595,950 if broadband deployment were increased at a reasonable level. (Connected Nation, The Economic Impact of Stimulating Broadband Nationally)

• Net job growth of 143,405 jobs from increase in broadband deployment. (Connected Nation, The Economic Impact of Stimulating Broadband Nationally)

• The University of Florida Center for Telehealth and Healthcare Communications staff provides telehealth consultation on methods of integrating store and forward technology and broadband into clinical practices and research studies. (Alliance for Public Technology and Communications Workers of America, State Broadband Initiatives)

• The Florida Information Resource Network provides website hosting to educational professionals and schools in the state of Florida as a service for the Florida Department of Education. (Alliance for Public Technology and Communications Workers of America, State Broadband Initiatives)

E-learning helps retailers dump classrooms for the anywhere, anytime Internet

By Elizabeth Gardner

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