Since Grantmakers In Health first launched our Policy Priorities Agenda in 2023, we have significantly increased leadership and guidance to health funders on health policy issues. Now more than ever, philanthropic organizations must act decisively and strategically to improve the conditions in communities that impact health and to protect communities from harm. We hope these priorities will inspire the field of health philanthropy and encourage greater collaboration and commitment to common policy goals. We look forward to working with funders and others to advance this agenda.

This year, GIH will continue to lead the way, and our 2026 Policy Priorities Agenda will provide the framework for that leadership. We have selected priorities that:

  • affect policy and systems change;
  • support health and health equity;
  • are actionable, timely, relevant, nonpartisan, and evidence-based;
  • galvanize staff and Boards of health philanthropy;
  • align with GIH’s strategic plan; and
  • leverage GIH’s organizational resources and unique positioning to lead.
Advocacy Strategies

Policy Goals

Recognizing that policy change requires a long-term commitment and sustained momentum, GIH’s 2026 policy agenda continues to highlight and build upon our original goals and objectives. Our public policy priorities seek progress on four overarching goals:

Health Equity
  • Advance health equity and social justice. GIH supports policies that ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity to achieve their highest level of health by removing structural obstacles to equitable participation in society.
Access
  • Expand health care access and improve quality of care. GIH supports policies that promote the timely use of patient-centered, personalized health care to achieve the best possible health outcomes.
Population Health
  • Improve population health. GIH supports policies that emphasize prevention and elevate the needs of people facing disproportionate health risks due to age (e.g., youth, older adults), geography (e.g., rural communities), identity (e.g., people of color, LQBTQ people, people with disabilities), health conditions (e.g., pregnancy, chronic diseases), or circumstances (e.g., immigrants and refugees, people experiencing homelessness).
Advocacy Strategies
  • Promote community engagement and empowerment.GIH supports policies that promote meaningful engagement and build power by facilitating individual and community agency in the decisions that shape people’s lives and health.

Policy Objectives

Advancing these policy goals requires both a long-term commitment and a short-term resolve to action. GIH has identified the following policy objectives to advance our priorities in the coming year:

  1. Ensure comprehensive health insurance coverage for all. Examples related to this objective include:
    • Protecting Medicaid eligibility and continuity of coverage by mitigating the impact of work requirements, cost-sharing, and other administrative barriers that have been shown to reduce coverage without improving health or employment outcomes;
    • Reviving Marketplace affordability supports, including extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies and expanding Medicaid in every state;
    • Preserving state flexibility to expand coverage using state resources, including for immigrant populations; and
    • Ensuring an inclusive array of covered services, including behavioral health, oral health, preventive services, gender-affirming care, and reproductive care.
  2. Increase access to high-quality, equitable care for mental health and substance use. Examples related to this objective include:
    • Sustaining federal and state behavioral health infrastructure and grant funding that support clinics, crisis services, and peer programs;
    • Promoting diversion, reentry, and community-based treatment programs that prioritize care over incarceration;
    • Integrating mental health and substance use services into schools and other community-based settings; and
    • Strengthening crisis response systems, including suicide prevention and mobile crisis infrastructure.
  3. Protect and rebuild public health infrastructure at all levels. Examples related to this objective include:
    • Building state and local health information systems to restore the availability and integrity of national data sets that inform health policymaking (such as the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data);
    • Increasing community-level outreach and preventive services that have been impacted by funding reductions, staffing changes, and agency reorganizations, to backstop federal preparedness; and
    • Returning to evidence-based vaccine recommendations, as well as ensuring that children get all recommended vaccines at no cost-sharing.
  4. Protect and strengthen democracy. Examples related to this objective include:
    • Safeguarding voter rights, including the privacy and confidentiality of voter records;
    • Protecting voter engagement and participation (including automatic or same-day voter registration, mail-in and early voting options, and accessible polling places for people with disabilities); and
    • Maintaining and expanding citizen-initiated ballot measures as a tool to encourage civic engagement.
  5. Optimize the health workforce. Examples related to this objective include:
    • Strengthening education, training, and technical assistance to ensure a robust and well-prepared health workforce amid federal workforce and funding reductions;
    • Restoring professional degree status (for nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physical therapists, etc.) and protecting financial supports for health professionals, including student loan eligibility and repayment pathways; and
    • Advancing workforce diversity and culturally-responsive care practices for providers, to improve quality and patient outcomes and in light of executive orders curtailing diversity initiatives.
  6. Increase the availability of affordable, high-quality health care services. Examples related to this objective include:
    • Maintaining stable, multi-year core funding for community health centers;
    • Protecting Medicaid provider tax financing mechanisms, to prevent cuts to provider reimbursement that could reduce services, limit medication access, or force providers to scale back care; and
    • Continuing to advance innovative care delivery and payment models that improve equity, quality, and cost-effectiveness.
  7. Reduce poverty and advance economic mobility. Examples related to this objective include:
    • Supporting policies that decrease the tax burden on low-income families (such as the Earned Income Tax Credit);
    • Sustaining funding for early childhood programs (such as Head Start and Healthy Start), to ensure equitable access in high-need communities; and
    • Safeguarding access to safe and affordable housing and advancing housing justice policies.
  8. Eliminate nutrition insecurity by making fresh, healthy food accessible and affordable in every community. Examples related to this objective include:
    • Increasing nutrition assistance benefit levels to keep pace with rising food costs;
    • Protecting and strengthening Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to ensure consistent access without additional eligibility barriers or cost shifts to states; and
    • Strengthening and stabilizing federal investments in programs (such as WIC or federal student meal programs) to safeguard program capacity and continuity of nutrition services for eligible families.
  9. Promote and defend the philanthropic sector. Examples related to this objective include:
    • Communicating the value of health foundations as vital partners in their communities;
    • Advocating for grantmaker flexibility and the freedom to give without threat, ensuring they have the ability to address their communities’ most pressing needs; and
    • Ensuring no new excise taxes are imposed on foundations that would reduce the amount of money available for grants and community programs and limit an organization’s ability to respond to emerging health needs and crises.

Implementing this ambitious policy agenda will require the collective efforts of GIH working together with our Funding Partners and others. We look forward to advocating for policy change that promotes better health for all!