Consumers, Employers, Civil Rights Organizations, Health Insurance Providers, Patients, Hospitals, Doctors, Industry Groups, and Other Health Care Stakeholders Agree on a Menu of Effective Policy Options to Extend and Improve Affordable, High-Quality Health Coverage

Following the deadliest pandemic in more than a century and the sharpest economic downturn since the Great Depression, Americans understand, more clearly than ever before, that our nation’s capacity to thrive depends on health care that is accessible, affordable, and equitable.

The public narrative around health policy often focuses on areas of disagreement. But that’s not the whole story. Recognizing the need for change, 18 diverse organizations representing the full range of health care stakeholders — consumer and patient advocates, children and families, employers, health care providers, health insurance providers, civil rights organizations, researchers, and others — have come together and reached consensus on policy measures that would provide significant relief to millions of struggling families.

These proposals comprise a menu of broadly vetted health coverage ideas from which lawmakers in both parties can draw in crafting legislation that improves people’s lives. Some necessary reforms will take time to shape and implement, but others require immediate action. We call on Congress, in its next major legislative package to take major steps shoring up American health care. That means:

• Strengthening funding, care continuity, and eligibility for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
• Lowering the amount that people must pay when they buy their own insurance on health insurance exchanges.
• Qualifying all lawfully present immigrants for health care, without any waiting periods.
• Enrolling people into health coverage who qualify for assistance but remain uninsured.