The Commonwealth Fund

The celebration of a new year marks an opportunity to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. At the Commonwealth Fund, we take stock of what we observed, what we learned, and how we impacted heath policy, practice, and leadership development. In 2024, as always, we worked to fulfill our mission of promoting a high-performing, equitable health care system for everyone.

Devine Cruz, a patient who suffered from psychotic episodes and showed symptoms of schizophrenia, stands for a portrait at the NYS Psychiatric Institute’s Herbert Pardes Building in Manhattan after recently treating her autoimmune issues that resulted in resolving her psychiatric symptoms. Payment measures for treating serious mental illness do not always reflect the nuances of care and the needs of patients in recovery, such as improving quality of life and reducing loneliness. Photo: José A. Alvarado Jr. for the Washington Post via Getty Images

In 1918, Anna Harkness established the Commonwealth Fund with the mandate to “do something for the welfare of mankind” and the broad charge to enhance the common good. These founding principles guide us to this day and inform our values:

Lawsuits are stalling the implementation of a Biden administration rule aimed at curbing insurance agents’ and brokers’ ability to inappropriately steer beneficiaries into private Medicare plans. For example, agents and brokers can be offered bonuses or vacations as an incentive to enroll beneficiaries in particular plans. The new rule was issued in April 2024 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to combat this practice by redefining “compensation” for agents and brokers, setting a fixed amount they can be paid regardless of which plan people are enrolled in, and closing loopholes that sidestepped compensation limits. The regulation was set to take effect in October 2024 but has been paused because of the litigation.

In November, Washington State voters defeated a ballot measure that would have significantly undermined the nation’s first social insurance program for long-term care by a surprisingly comfortable 55 percent to 45 percent margin. The result means that the program, the WA Cares Fund, will continue toward full implementation in 2026.

An ambulance crosses Westminster Bridge during a strike by junior doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, U.K., on Feb. 26, 2024. A recent study found that health care workers across the U.S., U.K., and Canada reported that patients of color most often received inferior care or treatment that was different from what white patients received. Photo: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

During a tour of Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, Calif., in August 2024, the system’s environmental stewardship team inspected loading docks, patient areas, the power plant, and the cafeteria looking for opportunities for carbon savings. Pictured from back to front: Cale Lepper, supervisor of environmental services at Providence St. Mary Medical Center; Elizabeth Schenk, PhD, RN, Providence’s chief environmental stewardship officer; and Sister Sara Tarango, CSJ, Providence’s environmental stewardship liaison in Southern California. Photo: James Quigg

Angelia Bowen, center, currently out on parole, listens to a therapist talk during a group wellness and therapy class at The ReEntry Initiative in Longmont, Colo., on February 7, 2024. Health insurance expansions, including state Medicaid expansions, can help increase coverage and decrease reincarceration risk for formerly incarcerated people. Photo: RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/Denver Post via Getty Images

More than 79 million people are enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, making them the largest health insurers in the United States. The main source of coverage for Americans with low income, Medicaid covers a wide range of services, from preventive care to hospital stays and prescription drugs. Medicaid also pays for nearly half of all U.S. births, and the program is the largest payer of long-term care and behavioral health services.

.chart-container.thumbnail{display:none;}.chart-container..chart-container.thumbnail{display:none;}.chart-container.