Center for American Progress

Donate

Departments

Health Policy

The Health Policy department advances health coverage, health care access and affordability, public health and equity, social determinants of health, and quality and efficiency in health care payment and delivery.

A health care professional measures a worker's blood pressure, 2005. (Getty/Smith Collection/Gado/Centers for Disease Control/CDC Connects)

What We're Doing

Building a strong, thriving, and equitable public health system

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored how essential a robust public health system is to safeguarding America’s health and well-being. We are working to ensure that the system is sustainable, well-funded, and ready to respond to future health threats. We also advance policies to reduce exposure to toxins and improve resilience to other threats, such as extreme weather events, that jeopardize the public’s health—especially in vulnerable communities.

Making health care accessible in ways that people can feel

Health insurance is only valuable if people can use it. We are working to bolster high-quality health coverage for everyone in America. We elevate policy solutions to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, lower out-of-pocket costs, make it easier for people to access their benefits, and close coverage gaps. We are also working to ensure that the Medicare program is meeting the needs of older Americans and are advocating for policies to dramatically lower the costs of prescription drugs.

Tackling high health care prices and combating anticompetitive behavior

America’s exceptional health care spending levels are driven by high prices and market concentration. We elevate policy solutions to combat further health care consolidation and to tamp down on anti-competitive behaviors across the health care industry. This includes shining a light on where money in health care is actually going, where market power lives, and who is profiting along the way. We also promote strong regulatory action to counter corporate greed in service of lowering health care prices for everyone.

Advancing health equity and dismantling structural barriers to health

Our health policy efforts are grounded in advancing health equity. In all that we do, we work to center the experiences and priorities of those with the most at stake—including low-income people, people of color, women, LGBTQI+ people, and people living with disabilities—in our efforts to improve health care access, reduce costs, and create healthy communities and systems that protect people from health threats. We also work in close partnership with others across the organization to advance policy changes that combat the structural barriers that prevent many people in America from equally sharing in health and prosperity.

The Health Policy department advances health coverage, health care access and affordability, public health and equity, social determinants of health, and quality and efficiency in health care payment and delivery.

This field is hidden when viewing the form

Default Opt Ins

This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form

Variable Opt Ins

This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form

Featured Experts

All Members

Thomas
Waldrop

Former Policy Analyst, Health Policy

Featured work

Latest

Compact View

  • Filter by
  • Type
    • Type
    Show Results
  • Date
    • Date
    • Date

    • to

    Custom range Fixed range
  • Topic
    • Topic
    Show Results
  • State
    • State
    Show Results
  • Toggle Search

  • 1297 Results

Clear filters

Resumen ejecutivo: Una Declaración de Derechos del Paciente para reducir los costos de la atención médica Hoja informativa
Two prescription pill bottles on table, one standing and one on its side with pills spilling out

Resumen ejecutivo: Una Declaración de Derechos del Paciente para reducir los costos de la atención médica

El plan de CAP limitaría los aumentos injustificados de las primas, reduciría los deducibles al frenar los precios hospitalarios atípicos, y sustituiría la autorización previa por una revisión clínica independiente y basada en la evidencia, con el fin de reducir los costos de atención médica y ampliar el acceso oportuno a la atención.

Topher Spiro, Neera Tanden, Natasha Murphy, 3 More Neda Ashtari, Kierra B. Jones, Brian Keyser

Executive Summary: A Patients’ Bill of Rights To Lower Health Care Costs Fact Sheet
Two prescription pill bottles on table, one standing and one on its side with pills spilling out

Executive Summary: A Patients’ Bill of Rights To Lower Health Care Costs

CAP’s plan would limit unjustified premium increases; reduce deductibles by reining in outlier hospital prices; and replace prior authorization with independent, evidence-based clinical review to lower health care costs and increase access to timely care.

Topher Spiro, Neera Tanden, Natasha Murphy, 3 More Neda Ashtari, Kierra B. Jones, Brian Keyser

Updated: TrumpRx Discounts 0.13 Percent of Prescription Drugs While 22 Million Americans See Costs Rise Article
Shelves at a pharmacy are stacked with bottles of prescription medication.

Updated: TrumpRx Discounts 0.13 Percent of Prescription Drugs While 22 Million Americans See Costs Rise

Premiums have more than doubled for millions of Americans since enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits expired, and millions more are projected to lose coverage over the next decade. The administration’s response: a coupon portal covering 80 out of more than 24,000 FDA-approved drugs, with new savings on at most 31.

The CAP Health Policy Team

How the Trump Administration’s Embrace of Oil, Gas, and Chemical Industry Interests Will Endanger Children’s Health Report
Children climb on play equipment during sunset in Liberty State Park.

How the Trump Administration’s Embrace of Oil, Gas, and Chemical Industry Interests Will Endanger Children’s Health

The Trump administration’s actions to eliminate lifesaving environmental protections would allow corporate polluters to emit more toxins and chemicals, exposing more than 2 million kids to pollutants that increase the likelihood of lifelong health concerns—such as asthma, autism, ADHD, and cancer—while undercutting the administration’s own “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

Cathleen Kelly, Jill Rosenthal, Jasia Smith

CAP Calls on CMS To Hold Medicare Advantage Plans Accountable for Upcoding, Predatory Marketing, Prior Authorization Practices, and AI Use in Coverage Decisions Article

CAP Calls on CMS To Hold Medicare Advantage Plans Accountable for Upcoding, Predatory Marketing, Prior Authorization Practices, and AI Use in Coverage Decisions

The Center for American Progress submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) urging reforms to rein in Medicare Advantage overpayments, strengthen accountability for providing equitable care, and protect beneficiaries from predatory marketing practices and prior authorization-related harms.

Neda Ashtari

How Congress can still get health care subsidies in place for 2026 In the News

How Congress can still get health care subsidies in place for 2026

In an op-ed published by STAT, Emily urges Congress to extend the enhanced tax credits into 2026 while also outlining several other concrete actions the federal government could take to make health care more affordable.

STAT

Emily Gee

How Private Equity and the Financialization of Health Services Can Undermine Access to Sexual and Reproductive Care Report

How Private Equity and the Financialization of Health Services Can Undermine Access to Sexual and Reproductive Care

As firms increasingly invest in OB-GYN practices, fertility clinics, maternity care services, and other health care facilities, policymakers must regulate private equity activity and strengthen oversight of corporate control of health care to preserve Americans’ access to care.

Kierra B. Jones

Open Enrollment, Closed Doors Article
Capitol building reflected in a red ambulance

Open Enrollment, Closed Doors

As Affordable Care Act marketplace open enrollment for 2026 begins on November 1, Republican health policies are reducing access to affordable and comprehensive coverage for low-income Americans, young adults, and the self-employed.

Natasha Murphy

Load More

This field is hidden when viewing the form

Default Opt Ins

This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form

Variable Opt Ins

This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.