Organizing communities to improve health care for all

About the Health Rights Organizing Project

Health care is a right, and everyone should have access to comprehensive health coverage. Person by person, state by state, the Health Rights Organizing Project is working toward this vision.

The U.S. health care system is in crisis. 45 million Americans currently lack health coverage, and the numbers are increasing every year. Many more people are underinsured, with inadequate coverage that does not pay for preventive care nor protect them from catastrophic illness. As medical costs are rising, private health insurance companies are segmenting the market and covering only the young and healthy, employers are shifting costs to employees or opting not to provide health care benefits, while states and localities are balking at the growing fiscal burden of providing public insurance and uncompensated care. All of these conditions point to major shifts in health care within the next several years.

Whether shifts in health care will benefit or hurt ordinary Americans, including children and families, people of color, the elderly, and people with disabilities, depends on whether ordinary Americans have a voice in the debate.

Fortunately, more and more community leaders and organizations are identifying health care reform as their number one priority. The Health Rights Organizing Project is designed to build the power of these organizations to impact the health care debate. The Health Rights Organizing Project provides technical assistance, training, and access to national resources and expertise to organizations that are working for health care reform. Project participants convene regularly to share knowledge and best practices with organizations in other states. Together, we will build toward a system that will provide quality, affordable health care for all.