Congress and the administration have trained their focus on health care affordability, and political candidates have made it a key issue on the campaign trail this year, as well. As the debate continues, the AHA is pressing for meaningful solutions that make care more affordable. Part of the solution is helping policymakers and the public understand the real drivers of hospital costs and the resources required to deliver high-quality care.
As AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack stated in testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, hospitals are balancing significant cost pressures as they treat a sicker and more medically complex, aging patient population, all while operating with persistent misalignments in how care is financed and reimbursed.
There is more work to do to make health care more affordable for Americans, and the AHA has outlined several solutions focused on improving the health of individuals and communities; advancing value through care transformation; reducing regulatory and administrative waste; and innovating to improve care quality and outcomes. To truly make care affordable for Americans, all stakeholders — including government, commercial health insurers, drug companies, providers and patients — must work together.
Reach out to your members of Congress and use AHA resources to inform them of the drivers of health care costs and solutions to make care more affordable.
Make sure your members of Congress know the importance of supporting policies that allow hospitals to provide care to their communities. The following resources can help you and your team in these conversations.
The AHA Political Action Committee (AHAPAC) allows eligible hospital leaders to make voluntary donations toward the support of federal candidates of both political parties who support the hospital policy agenda. AHAPAC is bipartisan, working with state hospital associations and others.
For more information, please email pac@aha.org.
Learn more about AHAPAC
AHA Advocacy Alliances were created to help you engage your legislators on specific issues that have a direct impact on health care quality improvement and your ability to continue providing quality health services in your community. Alliance activities include special briefing calls and emails to keep members up-to-date on key developments, breakout sessions at American Hospital Association Advocacy Days, direct member outreach and other issue-specific resources.
Register for an alliance
The Coalition to Strengthen America’s Health Care was formed to protect access to the best quality health care for all Americans and health care quality improvement. We are a community of more than one million people who recognize the important role hospitals play in communities all over America, and advocate on their behalf to elected officials in Washington who too-often put funding for patient care on chopping block.
Read about the Coalition
