Campaign for Better Health Care

The Campaign for Better Health Care (CBHC) is a grassroots health-care reform coalition based in Illinois. Its work brings together health-care advocates, labor unions, and nonprofit organizations around the goal of creating a single-payer health-care system in the United States. Rather than operating as a commercial health-care provider or insurance company, CBHC functions as an advocacy and organizing vehicle: it seeks to build public support, coordinate participating organizations, and influence legislation concerning access to health care. The coalition emerged from organizing by several Illinois community and statewide reform groups. In 1988, the Danville Area Community Services Council and the Champaign County Health Care Consumers joined with statewide organizations including the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans, then known as the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens; Illinois Citizen Action, then known as the Illinois Public Action Council; and the Coalition for Consumer Rights. These groups created a central statewide grassroots organization focused on health-care reform. The organization is identified as having been founded in 1989 by Jim Duffet. CBHC's significance is primarily political and movement-based. Its activities have centered on expanding health-care access and advancing structural reform rather than promoting a specific medical product, insurance plan, or commercial service. The coalition's Illinois advocacy contributed to the development of the Health Care Justice Act, legislation sponsored by Barack Obama during his service in the Illinois State Senate. The legislative campaign is described as an important precursor to later national health-care debates; commentators have connected the work surrounding the Health Care Justice Act with ideas and political networks that eventually informed the broader movement behind the Affordable Care Act. The available reference material does not establish a detailed current organizational structure, a complete list of officers, a formal parent organization, revenue figures, or a confirmed present operating status. CBHC is therefore best understood as a civic advocacy coalition whose identity is tied to grassroots health-care organizing in Illinois and to the wider American single-payer movement.

The Campaign for Better Health Care developed from a network of Illinois community and statewide organizations concerned with access to health care and the direction of health-care policy. The coalition's formative activity dates to 1988, when the Danville Area Community Services Council and the Champaign County Health Care Consumers worked with statewide grassroots organizations to establish a coordinated reform organization. The participating statewide groups included the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans, which at that time was called the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens; Illinois Citizen Action, formerly the Illinois Public Action Council; and the Coalition for Consumer Rights. The purpose of creating a central organization was to give Illinois health-care reform advocates a common platform for public organizing and legislative action. The resulting Campaign for Better Health Care became associated with a single-payer approach, bringing together health-care advocates, labor unions, and nonprofit organizations that supported a more comprehensive public system. Jim Duffet is identified as the organization's founder, and the coalition is generally dated to 1989, following the organizing work begun the previous year. A major part of CBHC's historical importance lies in its connection to Illinois legislative debates. Work associated with the coalition contributed to the development of the Health Care Justice Act, which was sponsored by Barack Obama while he was serving in the Illinois State Senate. The legislation represented an effort to address health-care access through broad structural reform rather than through limited program adjustments. Accounts of the organization describe this Illinois legislative battle as part of the policy and advocacy history that later fed into national health-care reform discussions. The organization has consequently been portrayed as part of the longer American movement for universal or single-payer health care. Its role was not that of a commercial brand selling insurance, medicine, or clinical services. Instead, its public identity rested on coalition work, grassroots mobilization, policy advocacy, and the promotion of health-care justice. The available sources provide limited information about later campaigns, internal governance, staffing, finances, or current activity, so a detailed chronology beyond its founding and legislative work cannot be confirmed.

• 1989

  Campaign for Better Health Care founded

  [1]Campaign for Better Health Careen.wikipedia.org

  The coalition is identified as having been founded in Illinois by Jim Duffet, with a mission focused on grassroots health-care reform and support for a single-payer system.

• 1988

  Illinois organizations begin forming a statewide health-care reform coalition

  [1]Campaign for Better Health Careen.wikipedia.org

  Community organizations from Danville and Champaign County joined statewide grassroots health-care groups to establish a central Illinois reform organization.

• Health Care Justice Act advocacy

  [1]Campaign for Better Health Careen.wikipedia.org

  Work associated with the Campaign for Better Health Care contributed to the development of the Illinois Health Care Justice Act, sponsored by Barack Obama during his Illinois State Senate career.

A grassroots, coalition-based health-care reform organization advocating universal access through a single-payer system rather than commercial insurance products or provider services.

• Policy advocacy · 1989

  Single-payer health-care advocacy

  CBHC's central programmatic focus is advocacy for a single-payer health-care system in the United States. This is a policy and organizing effort rather than a commercial product: the coalition works to build support for publicly organized and broadly accessible health-care coverage through grassroots engagement and coalition activity.

• Legislative campaign

  Health Care Justice Act campaign

  The coalition's work helped generate support and policy development around the Illinois Health Care Justice Act. The initiative connected grassroots health-care reform organizing with state-level legislative action and was associated with Barack Obama's sponsorship of the legislation in the Illinois State Senate.

• Health Care Justice Act advocacy

  Illinois

  CBHC participated in the advocacy and organizing environment that produced the Illinois Health Care Justice Act, linking community and statewide reform groups with legislative efforts to address health-care access.

  Outcome. The legislation was sponsored by Barack Obama in the Illinois State Senate. The campaign is described as part of the policy history later associated with national health-care reform debates.

  Source

1. 1Campaign for Better Health Careen.wikipedia.org