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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 Working On

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

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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).

A child rides his bicycle through a park in Hoboken, New Jersey, as the sun sets on lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on October 5, 2020. (Getty/Gary Hershorn)
Social and Economic Policies Can Help Reverse Americans’ Declining Health

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).

Dr. Elizabeth Maziarka reads a blood pressure gauge during an examination of a patient at the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on April 11, 2006. (Getty/Joe Raedle)
Closing the Medicaid Coverage Gap Would Save 7,000 Lives Each Year

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).

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How Ohio’s Special Election Results Will Both Protect Abortion and Affect Maternal Mortality in the State Article
Photo shows several people at polling stations filling out their ballots in a well-lit room

How Ohio’s Special Election Results Will Both Protect Abortion and Affect Maternal Mortality in the State

Ohio’s Issue 1 ballot initiative to codify the legal status of abortion in the state constitution affects both abortion access and maternal mortality rates.

Sabrina Talukder, Tracy Weitz, Sara Estep, 3 More Kierra B. Jones, Amina Khalique, Isabela Salas-Betsch

2023 CAP IDEAS Conference Past Event
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2023 CAP IDEAS Conference

Join the Center for American Progress as we celebrate 20 years of innovative policy solutions and look boldly forward to a progressive future.

CAP Comments on the EPA’s Proposed Rule on Lead Dust Levels in Child-Occupied Facilities Sign-On Letter

CAP Comments on the EPA’s Proposed Rule on Lead Dust Levels in Child-Occupied Facilities

The Center for American Progress submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in response to the agency’s proposed lower lead dust hazard standards and clearance levels for child-occupied homes and child care facilities.

Jill Rosenthal, Hailey Gibbs, Allie Schneider

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