Our broken health care politics are hurting instead of helping Americans Our new group, United States of Care, is looking for solutions that have the support to last — no matter which party is in charge of the government.

Andy Slavitt | Opinion columnist

There are few issues that weigh on the minds of Americans as much as making sure they and their families can get health care. And there are few areas where our politics serve us so poorly.

Talk to a mom of a chronically ill child or a young man working in a fast food job without benefits, or a dad who lost his job and his insurance. Talking to Americans about their health care is often a conversation marked by vulnerability, fear, and the fragility of middle-class life.

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I traveled across the country last year to listen to Americans discuss their concerns about health care and the politics in Washington, and I became struck by how much we all have in common. Whether they are Democrats, Republicans, independents or none of the above, no Americans want to live in fear that a job change, a prior illness, the cost of their medication, the generosity of their insurance company or who wins next election will determine whether they have their access to affordable health care.

For the last eight years, we’ve been locked in a battle over the Affordable Care Act that seems like it won’t end. In 2009, the Democrats passed what they believed would be seen as a set of middle-of-the-road reforms, adding protection for those with pre-existing conditions and sliding scale premiums to help lower income people buy private insurance. But it passed on a party-line vote and quickly became an outsized political lighting rod.

Today there is little will to address any weaknesses in the law, only to maneuver for enough votes to tear it down or preserve it. Meanwhile, more than 28 million Americans still lack insurance coverage, and many who have it can’t afford their deductibles.

If there is good news, it is that political tides change and every decade, we try again to achieve that goal of creating a more equitable, affordable health care system. And when the next debate begins, we should start with fresh thinking that can unite us in a common goal of putting the health of our nation over politics.

To that end, I will be chairing a new , and a new type, of organization launching Tuesday called United States of Care. It’s founded on the premise that no American should have to go without the care they need. Not defined by any single policy proposal, United States of Care is based on three core principles.

We believe all Americans should have access to a regular source of care for themselves and their families; no one should face financial devastation due to illness or injury, and we need to achieve these goals through policies that are fiscally responsible and have the political support to last.

These are principles that Americans believe in.

I’m proud to be joined in this new organization by nearly 60 prominent Americans — patient and disability advocates, clinicians, health care leaders, former elected officials from both parties, business leaders, and inventors. People like Elena Hung, the inspiring mom who brought her daughter Xiomara to Capitol Hill over last year and founded Little Lobbyists to educate policymakers about the needs of medically fragile children; Dr. Bill Frist, the heart and lung transplant surgeon and former Senate majority leader from Tennessee; and Dr. Atul Gawande, a public health expert and one of the principle chroniclers of our progress and problems in health care.

A new survey commissioned by United States of Care suggests Americans are ready for the work we're undertaking. It finds that large majorities of engaged citizens in both parties (people who, among other things, follow the news and vote regularly) want every American to have access to affordable care. But translating this into political change will mean not only making the voice of the public heard, but taking on difficult issues like the cost of care; how we encourage healthy lifestyles; and the role of mental health, addiction, and poverty.

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Some are skeptical that we will ever get past the current political stalemate. This will not happen overnight. Our first step is a national listening tour to hear from families and local experts and turn what we learn into real policy changes, beginning at the state level..

America is a global leader in so many aspects of health care, yet millions of Americans still can’t afford to fill prescriptions or get the care they need. Not surprisingly, our national health outcomes are declining.

We can’t sit back and bemoan the politics. If we expect our children and grandchildren to have a future where they can live up to their potential, change jobs without fear, benefit from the cures which are coming, and not bankrupt themselves or our nation, we must come get together now and put our health ahead of our politics.

Andy Slavitt, board chair of United States of Care and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, is a former health care industry executive who ran the Affordable Care Act and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 to 2017. Follow him on Twitter: @ASlavitt