Center for Healthcare Affordability Launches to Advance Limited Government Solutions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Center for Healthcare Affordability (CHA), a newly launched initiative housed at the Institute for Legislative Analysis, today announced its launch as a dedicated resource for advancing limited government, market-oriented solutions to America's healthcare cost crisis. The Center is available at reformhealthcare.org.

The launch comes amid continued concern over spiraling healthcare costs and years of policy failures at both the federal and state levels. CHA was created to provide policymakers, employers, and advocates with a comprehensive, practical framework for addressing the root causes of healthcare unaffordability.

The Center for Healthcare Affordability brings together healthcare experts and compiles hundreds of policy briefs, research papers, and reform proposals from leading public policy organizations. These resources are organized around what CHA identifies as the five most pressing healthcare affordability challenges: skyrocketing premiums, rising medical treatment costs, shrinking competition, higher hospital costs, and exploding government spending.

For each of these challenges, CHA provides both a diagnosis of the underlying causes and a set of policy prescriptions designed to expand competition, improve transparency, reduce costs, and strengthen access to care. CHA leaders say the effort represents one of the most comprehensive public policy frameworks on healthcare affordability assembled to date.

In addition to its policy framework, the Center includes an interactive historical analysis of major healthcare policy developments dating back to World War II, as well as a Healthcare Affordability Index that tracks significant healthcare policy proposals in Congress. The Index also features profiles of all 535 members of Congress, highlighting how their legislative actions may affect healthcare affordability.

"Healthcare costs touch nearly every part of American life, from family budgets and employer decisions to federal spending and economic opportunity," said Ryan McGowan, CEO of the Institute for Legislative Analysis. "Unfortunately, the complexity of the healthcare system has made it easier for waste, distortion, and cronyism to take root, and too often lawmakers and business leaders struggle to understand which reforms actually make care more affordable. The Center for Healthcare Affordability is meant to finally give them a clear, credible place to understand the right solutions and how they fit together."

"After working for 25 years as a public policy consultant, strategist, and with my husband, former HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan, I have witnessed firsthand many of the challenges within the healthcare system," said Emily Hargan, Senior Fellow at the Center for Healthcare Affordability. "Over decades, layers of bad legislation and regulations have produced unintended consequences throughout the industry, that have hurt American families. Because the system is so interconnected, it has been incredibly difficult for lawmakers and administrations to find a single trusted source for solutions. We are excited to provide a one-stop shop for policymakers seeking reforms that can truly drive down costs and make healthcare more affordable for American families."

"Healthcare is one of the most heavily regulated and complex areas of public policy, yet lawmakers have lacked a single, reliable place to access the background, research, and solutions they need," said Fred McGrath, President of the Institute for Legislative Analysis. "Too many groups in the healthcare space operate in silos, specializing in only one part of the system while overlooking how actions in one area can create consequences elsewhere. The Center for Healthcare Affordability changes that by connecting the dots in a way never before provided and equipping lawmakers and staff with a fully vetted framework to address the root causes of rising costs."

The Institute for Legislative Analysis is a leading public policy research organization and data hub.

For media inquiries, contact press@limitedgov.org or 301-542-2399.