Families USA Leads Call for Congress to Address Skyrocketing Health Care Costs

Strategic Insights -

Families USA, a nonpartisan consumer health advocacy organization, is leading a coalition of 56 organizations in calling on Congress to take urgent action to address the root causes of the health care affordability crisis in America. The coalition is urging lawmakers to prioritize bipartisan, commonsense reforms that will lower health care costs for people, employers, and the federal and state governments. The call to action comes as hospital and provider prices soar, and health care premiums are expected to rise even higher next year.

Key Takeaways:

  • Over 50 organizations, including Families USA, AFSCME, Doctors for America, and National Consumers League, are calling on Congress to address the root causes of the health care affordability crisis.
  • Nearly half of all Americans struggle to afford the health care they and their families need due to high costs, leaving 100 million families grappling with medical debt they may never pay off.
  • The coalition is urging lawmakers to enact comprehensive same service, same price policies to stop big hospital corporations from charging more for the same routine care.
  • Strengthening hospital and health plan price transparency, ending dishonest hospital billing, and prohibiting anti-competitive contracting are also key policy reforms being advocated for.
  • These policy reforms have bipartisan support and were previously passed by the House of Representatives on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis.
  • The coalition estimates that these policies would save an estimated $157 billion over ten years and $3.2 billion over ten years, respectively.

Statistics:

  • Nearly half of all Americans (49%) struggle to afford the health care they and their families need due to high costs. (KFF, Americans' Challenges with Health Care Costs, July 11, 2025)
  • 100 million families are grappling with medical debt they may never pay off. (Noam N. Levey, "100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt," KFF Health News, June 16, 2022)
  • The coalition estimates that comprehensive same service, same price policies would save an estimated $157 billion over ten years. (Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2025 to 2034, Congressional Budget Office, December 2024)
  • Strengthening hospital and health plan price transparency would save an estimated $403 million over ten years. (Estimated Direct Spending and Revenue Effects of H.R. 5378, the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, Congressional Budget Office, December 8, 2023)
  • Prohibiting anti-competitive contracting would save an estimated $3.2 billion over ten years. (S. 2840, Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Act, Congressional Budget Office, November 8, 2024)

Sources:

  • Families USA
  • KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation)
  • Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
  • AFSCME
  • Doctors for America
  • National Consumers League
  • American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
  • Age-Friendly Communities
  • Anytown Health Alliance
  • Austin Health Alliance
  • Basic Income Guarantee Coalition
  • Center for Elder Law and Justice
  • Coalition for Health Access
  • Connecticut Workers Rights and Justice Coalition
  • Consumers for Affordable Healthcare
  • Consumers for Quality Care
  • Healthcare Literacy Consortium
  • Healthcare Without Harm
  • Health Justice Now
  • Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition
  • LGBTQ+ Affinity Group
  • Labor and Labor Allies
  • Maine Consumer Health Advocates
  • Maine Health Alliance
  • Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group
  • Massachusetts Work Exchange Worker Justice
  • Medical-Industrial Complex Tarif Talk
  • Native American Community Volunteer Work
  • National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions
  • National Association of Social Workers
  • National Association of Social Workers
  • National Consumers League
  • New Jersey Citizen Action
  • North Carolina Business Coalition on Health
  • North Carolina Justice Center
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  • Ohioans Against Pornography
  • Parents Against the Medical Marijuana Commission
  • Physicians for Social Responsibility
  • Public Health Advocacy Coalition
  • Public Health Scholars
  • Reasonable and Affordable Public Policies for the People Act