Health Care Advocacy Groups

The Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care: This Massachusetts-based organization is working for quality health care for all. It has a set of ten clearly defined principles of health care delivery and practice that provide the foundation for its advocacy work. The MA plan is the first 'universal' plan in the nation, with positive as well as negative aspects. Its outcomes affect CA planning.

California Health Consensus: An offshoot of The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, this site is full of information about health care problems in California. There are several stories about problems individuals have experienced, many newspaper articles, and information on legislation.

California Nurses Association, Nurses Union: The California Nurses Association clearly keeps a close eye on major hospital chains. Its homepage has links to information and press stories about the hospital chains it watches. The website also contains links and information regarding patient care issues and nursing issues.

California Pan-Ethnic Health Network: Alliance of groups serving people of color working for improved access and provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate care.

Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc.: The Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. is a national non-partisan education and advocacy organization that identifies and promotes policy and advocacy solutions to ensure that elders and people with disabilities have access to Medicare and quality health care

Citizens Council on Health Care: This Minnesota-based organization works toward physician/patient autonomy and a free market model for health care. The website has a great deal of information about the activities of the organization and the specific health care issues they address.

Coalition for Consumer Justice-SPRI: The Coalition for Consumer Justice Education Project is one of Rhode Island's oldest grassroots organizations that empowers consumers in the areas of healthcare, utilities, and environmental justice.

CodeBlueNow!: A national grassroots education and advocacy group committed to positive change in the U.S. health care system, CodeBlueNow! operates by engaging the American public in a systematic dialogue to define values and propose solutions for improved health care delivery and by educating leaders capable of affecting positive change in our nation's health care system.

Families USA: This national organization provides a wide range of health education and advocacy information looking at achieving universal coverage and outstanding medical care as a basic justice issues for all Americans.

Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights: This organization puts professional and grassroots activists to work protecting the interests of consumers. Their health care branch, Consumers for Quality Care, watches out for patients rights and works to preserve quality medical care.

Health Access: California-based health care education and advocacy for issues relating to all aspects of universal health care, access (including cultural and linguistic), affordability, patient rights.

Health Administration Responsibility Project: HARP focuses on corporate medicine in the health care system, including the legal support for it and the implications it has for patient care. The site is full of legal resources. On the homepage you can sign up for an active and fascinating mailing list.

Health Care for All/OneCareNow: A primary goal of Health Care for All is to inform Californians of the problems with our health care system and how a Single Payer system would solve most of the problems. HCA's activist campaign for single=payer is OneCareNow.

Health Care for Massachusetts Campaign: The Campaign is working toward an amendment to the Massachusetts state constitution that would require Massachusetts lawmakers to create laws that ensure every Massachusetts citizen has access to affordable health care.

Health Consumer Alliance: This California organization works to ensure that low income people have access to health care and are able to utilize that access effectively.

Hospice Patients Alliance: The Hospice Patients Alliance works to protect the rights of hospice patients and their families by providing information about those rights, by working to resolve conflicts involving hospice patients, and by advocating quality hospice care throughout the US. The web site includes a bookstore and an abundance of information about hospice care.

Kaiser Family Foundation: Provides regular updates on a wide variety of health care issues, crises, and concerns. It is considered one of the 'go to' organizations for research, policy updates, and other health care information. Kaiser also hosts conferences and panels that may be accessed via webcasts.

Latino Coalition for a Healthy California: Focuses on a wide range of health, environmental issues, toxic exposure, farmworker health, and other matters than disproportionately affect the Latino/Hispanic communities in California.

Nursing Home News: "The Consumer Justice Group is a public interest advocacy organization. Through Nursing Home News , we provide tools and suggestions for people who are having trouble with their nursing care situations. On a case by case basis we represent people who are abused or neglected in nursing homes throughout the country."

Paralyzed Veterans of America: This group engages in advocacy and research on behalf of paralyzed veterans.

Physicians for a National Health Program: Website for an organization of health care professionals dedicated to national health insurance. The site includes articles and other publications regarding national health insurance, as well as a link to and a way to endorse the "Proposal of the Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance" sponsored by this group and published in the August 13, 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Project EINO: Educates the public, encouraging state movement towards an equitable health care system guaranteeing universal access to care. Project EINO recommends focus on the 'Right to Health Care', as the best strategy to empower communities most at-risk in the current system. If you think you might be interested in some additional discussion and possible work with other people in your state on the issue of extending health coverage to all citizens.

Right to Health Care: Part of Project EINO, this site includes many legal and historical documents pertaining to the right to health care in the United States. Readers will find forums for discussing the right to health care as well as ways to work for the right to health care.

A Universal Healthcare Plan: This website puts forth a very straightforward plan for single payer health care in the United States. It has a way to offer comments on the plan, as well as a discussion group one may join.