The National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC) was formed more than two decades ago to help achieve comprehensive health system change and is currently led by John Rother.
We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of organizations. Our growing Coalition represents more than 80 participating organizations, including medical societies, businesses, unions, health care providers, faith-based associations, pension and health funds, insurers, and groups representing consumers, patients, women, minorities and persons with disabilities. Collectively, our organizations represent, as employees, members or congregants, more than 100 million Americans.
Our members are our strength. The diversity of our highly respected member organizations, their experienced leadership and their substantive expertise make the Coalition a powerful voice in the health policymaking community. Since its creation in 1990, NCHC has consistently advanced health system change to improve the accessibility, affordability, quality and cost-effectiveness of care.
Mission
To bring together key stakeholders in order to achieve an affordable, high-value health care system for patients and consumers, for employers and other payers, and for taxpayers.
Vision
To be a leader in promoting a healthy population and a more effective, efficient and responsive health system that provides quality care for all.
Why We Matter
An affordable, high-quality health system is critical to the health of our population and the health of our economy. While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded access to health care to more than 32 million Americans and included important strategies for lowering health care costs and improving quality, health care costs and total spending continue to soar for government, businesses, and families.
Current upward trends in health care costs and spending are not sustainable. Our members agree that the Coalition’s overarching goal of affordable care for all can be met by addressing the systemic, interrelated challenges of cost reduction and quality improvement in both the public and private sectors. We embrace the reality that these challenges can only be met through shared responsibility and effective collaborations between all of the key stakeholders in the health system. We recognize that many recent proposals to curb health spending would merely shift health care costs from the federal budget to public and private sector health budgets, without meeting the urgent need for meaningful systemic change; in fact, they could even delay progress.
Our Work
The Coalition played a constructive and important role in the overall effort to achieve health care reform and to strengthen measures designed to “bend the curve” of cost growth across the board. Today, the Coalition works to advance change across the health system through a multi-pronged program of policy development, consensus building and advocacy.
The Coalition’s public education activities are designed to increase understanding of the impact of health cost and quality problems on our nation’s physical and financial health. We have initiated a series of monthly forums on research and innovations relevant to the key challenges facing America’s health system. These are open events, allowing experts on health topics to actively engage with key stakeholders, Congressional staff and reporters on health system change.
The Coalition is a respected nonpartisan educational resource for Congressional members and staff. The Coalition regularly comments on pending legislative proposals and offers Congressional staff its expertise in the development of policies to improve value and reduce costs.
Membership
All organizations with a commitment to advancing health system change for an affordable future are invited to join our effort. Membership is annual and the specifics of each organization’s involvement are developed jointly. Please contact John Rother at jrother@nchc.org or 202-638-7151 to discuss your organization’s participation.