The United States spends more on healthcare than any peer nation, and that spending suppresses wages, widens inequality, and absorbs a growing share of household budgets. Yet the research that would allow policymakers to target healthcare spending drivers is often not policy-ready. The Health Care Affordability Lab at Yale aims to close this evidence-to-impact gap and build infrastructure that allows researchers, journalists, and policymakers to better understand the factors raising healthcare costs and how to address them. Led by Yale Professor Zack Cooper, the Lab combines health economics scholarship with direct engagement with decision-makers to ensure evidence leads to action.

The Lab translates complex data on healthcare economics into accessible recommendations, memos synthesizing the evidence base, and interactive data tools for policymakers, key industry stakeholders, and media. The Lab’s 1% Steps for Healthcare Reform project provides policymakers and healthcare purchasers with evidence-based recommendations to fix the many inefficiencies in the U.S. health system that raise health spending. The Lab’s Just the Facts memo series offers clear, concise explanations of what credible evidence says about some of the most pressing healthcare policy questions. These resources, as well as the Lab’s data visualization tools, equip policymakers, journalists, and advocates with the ability to understand and address the complex issues driving healthcare spending in the United States.