Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the members of the coalition?

The members of the coalition are major U.S. corporations, labor organizations, non-profit organizations, and civil society institutions. We are methodically adding members, and to date, our current members are:

While we will certainly listen to, seek support from, and look for opportunities to work with members of the health care industry, we do not plan to invite them to join this campaign. We feel that their voices are already well-represented, and since we are trying to add something new to the debate, it does not seem to make sense to have them within the membership.

Why is Better Health Care Together necessary? What is distinctive about it relative to other business-led efforts?

We are  not  starting this coalition to rival those that already exist. We think these other efforts are doing fine work, and we expect that as our coalition expands, it may very well include people and organizations who are active in those groups and many others.

We think we have something new and different to add. We are an initiative that will harness energy from the top leadership of a broad range of sectors to work toward the coalition’s singular goal: to generate the climate and political leadership for broad-based health reform in line with our common sense reform principles.

There are a few other points of distinction that we think will set this group apart and enable it to add value in this important debate:

• Better Health Care Together is the first coalition that represents business, labor, and civil society in one place. When a critical mass of these leaders come together, we believe we will speak with a unique voice in the national dialogue
• Better Health Care Together’s founding support from a labor leader like Andy Stern and significant civil society leaders such as John Podesta, Howard Baker, and Charlie Kolb demonstrate that this is a fundamentally different platform. It will be a place where business leaders and leaders from other sectors can bring their energies and talent to bear effectively on a major national problem
• Better Health Care Together is action-oriented. Systemic health care reform will take several years to materialize, but in the meantime, we will take the steps we can take now to lay the groundwork for systemic reform. We think it is vital that we adopt business leaders’ pragmatic approach to this challenge and do what we can in the present to put the common sense principles into practice
• Better Health Care Together will stay out of the day-to-day, “inside the Beltway” battles over bills and budgets. This coalition is an effort that focuses on the “big picture” of changing the political environment so that systemic health reform by 2012 will be a given,  not optional

Does Better Health Care Together have a political agenda?

Better Health Care Together has a political agenda in the sense that we want to push the political system to produce bold health care reform in line with our common sense principles. To reach this goal, our approach is bi-partisan, non-ideological, and inclusive.

Our members include leaders from across the political and ideological spectrum, and we will talk to and seek support from a similarly broad range of stakeholders. This effort should be one that all Americans can sign on to because it is based on common sense and reflects the goals that many Americans share.

Why have you launched this effort now?

Health care is perhaps the most complex and pressing domestic issue on the national agenda. If we really want to see systemic reform by 2012, we need to ensure that this conversation is framed immediately; gains support from leaders at the local, state, and national levels; and permeates the 2008 presidential campaign. We feel that we need to seize this moment to add focus and intensity to the public debate and to ensure that the coalition’s principles are a central part of this conversation.

What are the specific goals (timing, outcomes) for the group?

We want to see our common sense principles translated into national policy by 2012. This timeline is a brisk one and reflects the urgency of health care reform, but we believe it is achievable if we keep demanding it.

Meanwhile, we will not wait around for action. We will work to achieve strategic objectives that will enable systemic reform, including:

• Building broad public support for health reform through employer-based education initiatives and employer-led efforts to improve health outcomes among their employees
• Developing a deep bench of public leaders who believe in the common sense principles
• Highlighting innovations in health care reform that are in line with the principles

We have developed an initial workplan for our activities, and we will continue to refine and supplement this workplan as the debate evolves and as opportunities arise.

Are you going to take positions on particular policy solutions? Is there a “secret plan” that you are pushing?

No and no. We believe the bottleneck to real reform is not a lack of ideas, but rather a lack of political will. Since we want to focus on building the political will, we will not get into the business of pushing particular reform plans. Past efforts have failed by focusing on detailed plans, rather than on building consensus and changing the political environment. We will concentrate on changing the climate to lead to successful enactment of bipartisan legislation to reform the system by 2012.

One of the biggest problems we have faced in recent years is that the ambition of the debate has been far too timid – focusing on little tweaks here and there that are simply unequal to the challenge. If the campaign we have launched encourages public leaders to offer real reform proposals and engage in  serious debate about them, that will be a big step forward.

We recognize there are many ways to achieve our common sense reform principles, and we hope that our process of engaging leaders and reaching out to the broader public will promote a more constructive discussion. We anticipate that consistency with our principles could become the “gold standard” for the health care debate.

Are you going to establish a separate organization? How much will it cost?

The coalition is still in formation, so as we expand and develop our plans, we will dynamically re-evaluate our operational needs. For the time being, we have established a lean central office to drive our initial strategy development and execution; and our organizational budget covers this central office, coalition-wide events, and common coalition materials. Since much of the coalition’s work will be the activities that our members do within their own organizations, we do not anticipate significant growth in the coalition’s budget at this time.

Of course, the answers to these questions may change in the future. We are a serious organization, and we are committed to advancing our principles and achieving our goals. As we work through our plans, we will scale our operations up and down to match the task.