What made the Commissions work necessary and timely?
Despite enormous investment, America was not, and still is not, achieving its full health potential. During the life of the Commission, we saw an intense period of debate not just among policy makers, but all Americans across the country, about health reform and the future of health care in America. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America aimed to broaden the debate to focus on changes the country can make outside of health care to improve the health of all Americans, knowing that the country’s historical path of increasing medical spending without decreasing disease in America was unsustainable. We knew that we must find ways to empower more people to make healthy decisions and avoid getting sick in the first place.
