Strengthening Health

We work to strengthen public health systems and improve health care coverage, access, and affordability.

A pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic is seen in California. (Getty/Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

What We're Doing

Increasing vaccination rates to end the pandemic

Vaccination is key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic and avoiding preventable illness, death, and economic loss. We promote equitable vaccine policy and leveraging governmental and employers’ power to promote vaccination and pandemic recovery.

 

Strengthening public health infrastructure

The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed inequities and existing weaknesses in the United States’ public health infrastructure. We’re focused on improving health equity by investing in public health, addressing social and economic factors that affect health, and preparing for future health threats.

 

Improving access to affordable health coverage

We’re dedicated to bolstering affordable, high-quality health coverage options. By building on the Affordable Care Act, closing the Medicaid coverage gap, and innovating progressive solutions, we envision a world in which everyone can access care.

 

Lowering health care prices and consumer costs

Health care affordability is a top consumer concern, and prices for health care and prescription drugs are inaccessibly high for many. One of our key priorities is improving America’s health by lowering costs to ensure all people can afford to manage their health.

 

Center for American Progress

Turning Bold Ideas Into Effective Policies

Celebrate with us

By the Numbers

1.9

Life expectancy fell by 1.9 years in the pandemic—8.5 times more than peer countries.

Woolf, “Effect of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 on life expectancy across populations” (2021).

2x

The U.S. spends 2 times more as peer countries on health, with 8% lower life expectancy.

CAP, “The Declining Health of Americans” (2021).

7,000

Closing the Medicaid coverage gap would save 7,000 lives per year.

CAP, “Closing the Medicaid Coverage Gap Would Save 7,000 Lives Each Year” (2021).

2.8x

COVID hospitalized Black and Hispanic people at a rate 2.8 times higher than white people.

CDC, “Risk for COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Death by Race/Ethnicity” (2021).

Recent Work

Latest

Compact View

How the Alabama IVF Ruling Is Connected to Upcoming Supreme Court Cases on Abortion Article
An in vitro fertilization (IVF) patient at the University of Alabama at Birmingham holds up a photo of her daughter.

How the Alabama IVF Ruling Is Connected to Upcoming Supreme Court Cases on Abortion

The conservative judges in the Alabama in vitro fertilization (IVF) ruling, Idaho v. United States, and Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) all issued decisions that seemingly supported their personal and political ideology over the rule of law, further fueling the politicization of medicine.

Sabrina Talukder

Executive Summary: How Federal Investments in Safe Drinking Water Infrastructure Are Improving Public Health Fact Sheet
Photo shows a hand holding a clear glass underneath a running faucet

Executive Summary: How Federal Investments in Safe Drinking Water Infrastructure Are Improving Public Health

This fact sheet summarizes a recent Center for American Progress report highlighting the use of federal investments from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to replace dangerous lead service lines and advance public health among vulnerable communities.

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