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Reforming ERISA to Help States Control Health Care Costs
The federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) preempts many state laws relating to employer-sponsored health insurance and thereby dilutes states’ ability to enact cost-control reforms. This Issue Brief from The Commonwealth Fund assesses past efforts and current opportunities for federal legislation on ERISA preemption to enable state cost-control reforms.
Let’s Close the Gap on Mental Health for Good in 2023
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a mental health crisis was growing in America, with 1 in 10 adults reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression. Today, that number is 3 in 10. The recently launched 988 hotline—the mental health equivalent and alternative to 911—is a monumental step forward in changing how we acknowledge and respond to mental health needs nationally. It finally puts mental health on equal ground with physical health—a recognition long overdue—but it is only a first step in addressing the multitude of behavioral health needs.
SASH: Health Equity Begins at Home
A decade ago, primary care practices and housing non-profits in Vermont partnered to reduce chronic conditions among older adults and younger adults with a disability in collaboration with the state’s Blueprint for Health. Today, as an extender of the Blueprint, Support and Services at Home (SASH), which supports healthy aging in place, is helping to advance health equity in the state.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation: January 2023
The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation announced a call for proposals for its two responsive grantmaking programs: Special Initiative and Catalyst Funds.
Reflecting on the Intersections Initiative
For organizations like the St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund (the Fund) and Prevention Institute (PI), GIH conferences have served as a critical space to bring together advocates across sectors and spark new ideas to address complex health issues. Inspired by a PI-led session on upstream prevention and health equity at GIH’s March 2016 annual conference, the Fund noted the promising landscape for a grantmaking initiative that could focus on root causes of poor health and dismantling systems of inequity, and a partnership was born.
The Ethel and James Flinn Foundation: June 2022
The Ethel and James Flinn Foundation is accepting proposals from nonprofit organizations that deliver mental health care and services in southeast Michigan (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw).
Publications and Reports
GIH Bulletin: January/February 2026
One year ago, as we were just one month into the new administration, I wrote that “At a moment when so much has been described as ‘unprecedented,’ and so much of what we value is being attacked, we need to ask ourselves as individuals, organizations, and a field, what do we stand for? What values do we hold, and what will we do and say to defend them?” Today, the answers to these questions are needed more urgently than ever.
GIH Bulletin: November/December 2025
GIH President and CEO, Cara V. James, delivered these remarks on Protecting the Freedom to Give at the closing of the 2025 Health Policy Exchange, in Arlington, Virginia.
2024 Survey Summary: Health Workforce Strategies
Concerns about the supply, diversity, cultural responsiveness, geographic distribution, and safety of the health workforce have reached a critical level across the country. Philanthropy has a role to play in maximizing the health workforce to achieve patient safety, provider well-being, equitable access, care quality, and improved health outcomes. Therefore, GIH recently conducted a survey to learn about funders’ strategies related to their health workforce investments.