The center of the national health care reform debate shifts to Vermont on Tuesday, March 17 when the second in a series of Regional White House Forums on Health Reform comes to the University of Vermont's Davis Center.

Co-hosted by Gov. Jim Douglas and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the town hall style meeting from 1-3 p.m. brings 400 invited guests from New England, New York and other East Coast states to talk about reforms and a potential overhaul of the national health care system. Participants include doctors, legislators, insurance providers, policy experts, educators and residents with health care issues not being met under the current system.

The event is the second of five regional White House forums being held around the country. It begins with a video message recorded by the president, followed by a summary of the findings from the Health Care Community Discussions that took place in December, and an overview of the discussion that took place at the White House Forum on Health Reform. Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, will represent the Obama administration at the Vermont forum.

The first forum was held on March 11 in Dearborn, Mich., home to Ford Motor Co. It focused in part on the decline of the auto industry under the weight of rising health care costs. Other forums are scheduled for California, Iowa and North Carolina throughout the rest of March and early April, and are expected to focus on health care issues related to those regions of the country. Vermont was identified as a key state by the Obama administration for some of its innovative health care initiatives such as Blueprint for Health and Catamount Health.

The forum will be live-streamed on www.HealthReform.gov. Members of the public can also visit HealthReform.gov to submit questions to be raised at the forum if time allows. Parking is available for media in the Ag Engineering lot next to the Davis Center.