Inclusive Growth

Health Policy

The Health Policy team 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

Expanding affordable health coverage

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

Advancing public health and equity

We are working to advance health in all communities and reduce health inequities that foster disparate outcomes. This includes addressing the significant vulnerabilities in our public health system to ensure that it is more resilient and ready to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and future health threats.

Lowering health costs for consumers

We are finding ways to reduce costs while improving health care quality and addressing the social and economic factors that influence health. Via delivery system and payment reform, the government has ample opportunities to bolster efficiency and quality in health care.

The Health Policy team 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 site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Featured work

Latest

Compact View

Event Recap: Affordability Beyond Premiums Article
Registered nurses sit at their desks while working at a medical center.

Event Recap: Affordability Beyond Premiums

The first session in the Center for American Progress’ state health care affordability series highlighted policies in New Mexico, California, and New Jersey to lower out-of-pocket costs for marketplace enrollees.

Natasha Murphy

2024 Affordable Care Act Marketplace Plan Selections by Congressional District Interactive
A staff nurse checks a patient at a hospital.

2024 Affordable Care Act Marketplace Plan Selections by Congressional District

A new CAP interactive explores the proportion of nonelderly people who made federally facilitated marketplace plan selections during the 2024 open enrollment period by congressional district. Without congressional action, consumers will lose the enhanced financial assistance that supported record levels of enrollment.

Nicole Rapfogel

Monthly Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Savings by State Interactive
Farxiga, Xarelto, Entresto, and Eliquis are made available to customers at the New City Halsted Pharmacy in Chicago.

Monthly Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Savings by State

Medicare drug price negotiation will result in thousands of dollars in net price savings for 30-day supplies of the first 10 drugs undergoing negotiation; here’s how those savings add up state by state.

Nicole Rapfogel

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.

CAP Files Amicus Curiae Briefs Highlighting Importance of the Inflation Reduction Act in Lowering Drug Prices Article

CAP Files Amicus Curiae Briefs Highlighting Importance of the Inflation Reduction Act in Lowering Drug Prices

These briefs emphasize the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare prescription drug price negotiation program for affordability and health equity.

CAP Files Amicus Curiae Brief Highlighting Importance of the Inflation Reduction Act in Lowering Drug Prices Article

CAP Files Amicus Curiae Brief Highlighting Importance of the Inflation Reduction Act in Lowering Drug Prices

This brief, filed by the Center for American Progress and the NAACP in response to Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al., emphasizes the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare prescription drug price negotiation program for affordability and health equity.

2023 CAP IDEAS Conference Past Event
CAP IDEAS Conference logo

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.

Executive Summary: A Whole-of-Government, Society-Wide Approach to Tackling the Opioid Crisis Fact Sheet

Executive Summary: A Whole-of-Government, Society-Wide Approach to Tackling the Opioid Crisis

This fact sheet summarizes a recent Center for American Progress report outlining the need for a whole-of-government, society-wide approach to addressing the complex challenges posed by the opioid overdose epidemic.

Tackling the Opioid Crisis Requires a Whole-of-Government, Society-Wide Approach Report
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents sift through packages in search of fentanyl.

Tackling the Opioid Crisis Requires a Whole-of-Government, Society-Wide Approach

The opioid epidemic is a complex public health crisis that can be ameliorated by addressing root causes of drug use; expanding access to treatment and harm reduction strategies; and reducing the supply of illicit opioids entering the United States.

The Health Care Costs of Extreme Heat Report

The Health Care Costs of Extreme Heat

Daily climate and health care utilization data from Virginia illuminate the health care costs of extreme heat, which amount to approximately $1 billion every summer when extrapolated nationally.

Steven Woolf, Joseph Morina, Evan French, 6 More Adam Funk, Roy Sabo, Stephen Fong, Jeremy Hoffman, Derek Chapman, Alex Krist

The Biden Administration’s Move To Regulate Forever Chemicals in Water Is a Win for Public Health and Infrastructure Report
Hand holding collection jug under one faucet in a line of running faucets

The Biden Administration’s Move To Regulate Forever Chemicals in Water Is a Win for Public Health and Infrastructure

The Biden administration is proposing bold action to regulate dangerous chemicals in drinking water—and is coupling these regulations with critical funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to help local water systems come into compliance.

Sarah Millender, Jill Rosenthal

Public and Private Investments Are Poised To Transform Michigan Report
A worker works on the bed of one of Ford’s battery-powered F-150 Lightning trucks.

Public and Private Investments Are Poised To Transform Michigan

The historic home of the automotive industry, Michigan, stands to benefit from major infrastructure improvements and new plants for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries, especially if it incorporates public input and builds worker power to grow the middle class.

CAP’s Comments on FDA Draft Guidance for Lead Levels in Foods Marketed to Babies and Young Children Sign-On Letter

CAP’s Comments on FDA Draft Guidance for Lead Levels in Foods Marketed to Babies and Young Children

The Center for American Progress submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in response to the agency’s proposed draft guidance intended to reduce lead in foods marketed for infants and young children.

Empowering State Attorneys General To Fight Health Care Consolidation Report
Photo shows an exterior view of a tan-colored hospital

Empowering State Attorneys General To Fight Health Care Consolidation

To address hospital consolidation, improve competition, and protect consumers from higher health care costs, state legislatures should act to strengthen and support state attorneys general antitrust enforcement authority.

Sam Hughes, Natasha Murphy

How the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity Can Respond to the Health Threats of the Climate Crisis Report

How the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity Can Respond to the Health Threats of the Climate Crisis

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Climate Change and Health Equity must elevate the health and environmental justice implications of the climate crisis and provide the connective tissue needed to harness resources, leverage authorities, and coordinate federal expertise.

Film Screening: ‘InHospitable’ Past Event

Film Screening: ‘InHospitable’

This documentary film sheds light on the impacts of hospital consolidation and the conduct of non-profit hospitals.

How To Improve Value in Medicare Report

How To Improve Value in Medicare

Policy options that reduce spending and support quality, while preserving coverage, affordability, and care access for seniors, can improve the value of Medicare.

Thomas Waldrop, Marquisha Johns, Sarah Millender, 1 More Emily Gee

Policies To Hold Nonprofit Hospitals Accountable Report
Photo shows a nurse walking with a patient.

Policies To Hold Nonprofit Hospitals Accountable

Policymakers should ensure that all nonprofit hospitals fulfill their charitable mission and their obligation to address community needs.

Emily Gee, Thomas Waldrop

A Conversation With Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall Past Event

A Conversation With Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall

Discussing Air Force and Space Force personnel, the crisis in Ukraine, competition with China, human rights, and the role of the U.S. in the world

Preventing the Next Jackson-Like Water Crisis In the News

Preventing the Next Jackson-Like Water Crisis

Marquisha Johns and Nicole Rapfogel explain why the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, was the result of long-standing disinvestment, environmental injustice, and health inequities—and they urge state lawmakers to direct funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act toward the communities that need them most.

Route Fifty

Marquisha Johns, Nicole Rapfogel

The Inflation Reduction Act: What It All Means Past Event

The Inflation Reduction Act: What It All Means

Please join the Center for American Progress for a multipanel discussion with OMB Director Shalanda Young, one of the key officials responsible for implementing the IRA, and everyday Americans about the Inflation Reduction Act and what it will mean for the United States and the American people.

5 Facts About the Monkeypox Outbreak Article
Health care workers work at intake tents in New York City.

5 Facts About the Monkeypox Outbreak

While monkeypox is less contagious than COVID-19 and largely preventable through vaccination, the outbreak has highlighted that the U.S. public health system remains underprepared for crises.

Marquisha Johns

Load More

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