The ACHP Difference
The Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP) strengthens health care every day by championing the unique, local, nonprofit model that puts communities first. In 2025, ACHP and its member companies drove meaningful progress on the most pressing issues in health care—advocating for thoughtful Medicare Advantage (MA) reforms, advancing initiatives to manage and treat chronic conditions and strongly supporting premium tax credits that millions of Americans rely on for affordable coverage. Through collaboration, advocacy and innovation, ACHP ensures access to high-quality, affordable coverage and care for all Americans.
Turning Advocacy into Action
In 2025, ACHP and its member companies focused on reducing drug costs, expanding access to preventive tools, curbing misleading prescription drug advertising and ensuring fairness and accountability across the Medicare Advantage program.
- Advanced policies to boost biosimilar use, streamline FDA rules and drive competition, unlocking billions in savings for patients and taxpayers.
- Championed reforms to lower prescription drug costs and improve access, supporting policies to increase transparency and hold manufacturers accountable for high prices.
- Secured major win with FDA’s move to curb misleading direct-to-consumer drug ads.
- Advocated for federal policies that would expand access to preventive tools, such as continuous glucose monitors and home blood pressure cuffs, and to scale evidence-based programs that reduce chronic disease and lower costs.
Rarely does someone in the health sector get paid to keep you out of the hospital, off the meds and living life to the fullest. Needless to say, inevitably most of us will need some of those things done. But wouldn’t it be nice if the incentives were flipped?
atlas@ACHP will empower local health plans with data-packed insights that inform policy, strengthen advocacy and highlight their unique value.
By collaborating with the Administration, the MAHA Commission and other leaders in Washington, especially on innovative solutions such as wearable devices, we can implement interdisciplinary reforms that reach far beyond what clinical or policy solutions could do alone.
- Distributed daily member updates during the historic 43-day federal government shutdown.
- Collaborated with members and coalitions to extend the enhanced premium tax credits and opposed the “One Big Beautiful Act” for its impact on choice, Medicaid and consumer flexibility.
This was a missed opportunity to protect hardworking families from higher premiums and to preserve the stability of the individual market.
Medicare Advantage:
Advancing Fairness, Quality and Accountability
Scored a big victory with CMS’s proposed MA and Part D rule to improve affordability and sustainability in the MA program, reflecting recommendations in ACHP’s MA for Tomorrow initiative.
By reducing outdated process measures in MA Star Ratings to focus on health outcomes, we can put the focus back on what matters most—MA enrollees.
- Successfully advocated for fewer process measures in the MA Stars system. CMS’s proposed rule eliminates a dozen.
- ACHP was the only national payer organization advocating for the elimination of the Excellent Health Outcomes for All program. It would have hurt rural consumers and penalized consistently high-performing health plans. CMS’ proposed rule scraps the system and reinstates the historical reward factor. View our Issue Brief
- Outlined dozens of deregulatory actions to CMS, DOJ and Congress that would remove red tape and reduce fraud and waste.
- Exposed waste and abuse in the MA risk adjustment system, highlighting CMS data showing large national insurers collected up to $785 more per beneficiary than local nonprofit plans—with one company costing taxpayers over $6 billion in 2023 alone.
Our new analysis finds persistent and very troublesome inequities between the two largest MA insurers and regional nonprofit health plans across the country.
2025 Federal Advocacy by the Numbers
Meetings with Members of Congress and Staff
Action Alerts to Members and
Newsletters to Capitol Hill Staff
Meetings With the Trump Administration
Press Releases and Statements
ACHP facilitates a rare, bipartisan meeting with the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committees
Several ACHP member plan executives meet with HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill and Jacob Schiff (CMMI)
ACHP staff join member plan executives to meet with Congress on Capitol Hill
Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) joined by Heather O’Toole (Select Health), Mary Beth Jenkins (UPMC), Hilary Marden-Resnik (UCare), Ceci Connolly, Paul Kasuba (Martin’s Point Health Care), Steve Tringale (Mass General Brigham Health Plan), Melinda Kinney (Martin’s Point Health Care), Dan Jones (ACHP)
Congressman John Joyce (R-PA) joined by Dan Jones, Emma Liebman (ACHP), Hugh Lavery (Jefferson Health), Krista Hoglund (Jefferson Health Plans), Joe Bayura (UPMC) and Bill Reis (UPMC)
Ceci Connolly (second from left) speaks to Theo Merkel (White House Domestic Policy Council) about ACHP's policy priorities alongside several member company executives
Congresswoman Celeste Maloy (R-UT) joined by Rob Hitchcock and Heather O’Toole (Select Health) and ACHP’s Dan Jones
Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (D-MI) joined by Phil Yeiter (Priority Health) and Madeline O’Brien (ACHP)
Angus King (I-ME) meets with Martin’s Point Health Care’s Melinda Kinney and
Paul Kasuba
Amplifying Our Voice and Impact
ACHP Events
- Hosted members, sponsors, experts and policymakers as they explored the Future of Provider-Aligned Coverage and Care at ACHP’s Annual Symposium in Washington, DC.
Symposium attendees chat during the Welcome Reception, hosted at ACHP's new office space
Ceci Connolly welcomes FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary to Symposium
Dr. Mark Huth, ACHP Board Chair, welcomes attendees to the Annual Symposium
Annual Symposium Roundtable Discussions
Andrea Walsh, HealthPartners, and Tom Lee, Press Ganey, attend Annual Symposium as keynote speakers
ACHP’s Michael Bagel closes out the Annual Symposium with a discussion on policy priorities for the upcoming year
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Symposium Highlights:
- Rebuilding trust in health care
- Strategies for prescription drug affordability
- Digital health innovation
- Views from the C-suite
- Insights on federal priorities and partnership opportunities from CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary
- Recognized two community leaders with the 5th Annual Bernard J. Tyson Health Equity Award
Dr. Roli Dwivedi, Community-University Health Care Center (UMN)
Shannon Wilson, Priority Health
- Inaugural joint MA Summit in Chicago with Health Plan Alliance discussed the future of MA.
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- CEO Roundtable dove deep into proprietary data, growth vs. margin and sustainability
- Forward-looking panelists provided insights on MA market trends, Stars performance and SNP opportunities
- Expert sessions on cost management, digital engagement and federal policy
- Organized 11 webinars for members, including “How AI Can Help Payers,” providing insights on leveraging artificial intelligence to improve operations and outcomes.
- Convened pharmacy and government relations leaders in Washington, DC, to focus on lowering drug costs.
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- Pharmacy Fly-In Highlights:
- Facilitated rare joint, bipartisan meeting with Senate Finance and HELP Committees to examine a national risk pool for high-cost therapies and innovative GLP-1 obesity coverage models
- Advanced recommendations on patent reform, FDA engagement and drug pricing solutions
- Pharmacy Fly-In Highlights:
- Visited 16 ACHP member companies. Visits included presentations to boards of directors, policy briefings and deep dives on issues impacting nonprofit, regional health plans.
ACHP Board Members, CAP Members and staff came together at the annual winter retreat
External Events
Ceci Connolly speaking at Nourishing Change in Cincinnati
Dr. Stephen Parodi speaks at Reuters Total Health on driving real change in health care
ACHP’s Dr. Jennifer Lee at the NCQA Summit with HAP’s Natalie Pirkola and Select Health’s Krista Schonrock
Awards and Recognitions
ACHP Member Plans Continue Outperforming the Industry
- J.D. Power recognized several ACHP member plans for high performance and member satisfaction:
Angela Perri shows off UPMC’s J.D. Power Award for Highest Customer Satisfaction
- Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Network Health—the only two Medicare plans awarded NCQA’s 5-Star rating in 2025—are ACHP members.
- ACHP member companies outscored non-ACHP competitors on 75% of MA quality measures.
Ceci Connolly named among Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare – for the second year in a row.
- Recognized Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) with the 2025 Legislative Champion Award.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) receives 2025 Legislative Championship Award
Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) accepts 2025 Legislative Championship Award
Press Coverage
ACHP secured new flexibilities to conduct outreach using various modalities of communication, such as phone, text, email and voice mail, to reach consumers and deter coverage loss.
More than 400 meetings by ACHP with members of Congress and staff
46 in-person meetings by 16 ACHP member company CEOs with key members of Congress, including leadership, committee Chairs and Ranking Members
62 meetings with senior Congressional staff by Government Relations and MA executives representing 13 ACHP members
Nearly 100 meetings by ACHP and members with the Biden Administration
25 letters sent to Congress and the Administration advocating for policies supporting ACHP members
8 Action Alerts
1 Congressional briefing
1 Senate Finance Committee hearing featuring an ACHP member company CEO
With over 160 mentions in national, trade and regional publications, ACHP continues to be a respected authority on health policy, delivering insights that inform decision-making and advance practical solutions.
- STAT: Republicans are Proud of Creating Medicare Advantage. Now Some are Urging Reform Amid Runaway Costs
- KFF Health News: In Rush to Satisfy Trump, GOP Delivers Blow to Health Industry
- Healthcare Finance News: Biden-Era Rule Curbing Medicare Advantage Marketing Incentives Overturned
- Endpoints News: Trump Administration Leaves Obesity Coverage Expansion Out of New Medicare Rule
- The damage will be done from an enrollment perspective when people see the sticker. People will walk away.
Advancing the Chronic Disease Pledge: Innovation in Diabetes, Hypertension and Obesity
These pilots hold promise to remake the landscape of CGM insurance coverage and signal a future in which CGM is accessible to all who need it.
- Through five innovative programs in Michigan, Minnesota, Utah and Pennsylvania, ACHP members are testing payer-led models to reduce barriers to CGM access and adoption.
- This initiative builds on ACHP’s Chronic Disease Pledge and efforts to make CGMs a standard of care for people living with insulin-requiring diabetes.
- Continued progress on ACHP members’ Chronic Disease Pledge commitments to reduce the incidence of chronic disease in their communities by 2030.
The 2025 Report on Affordability in Health Care showcases how ACHP members make health care more affordable by preventing and managing chronic diseases. In just two years, ACHP plans have shown measurable improvements in glucose control, blood pressure and patient satisfaction.
HealthPartners and Select Health distributed home blood pressure cuffs—leading to 1,220 patients achieving controlled hypertension in one quarter and 17% higher hypertension control in six months.
Aspire Health’s “Healthy Together” program helped over 1,000 families reduce BMI and increase healthy habits.
In The Community
ACHP’s talented, dedicated team comes from a range of backgrounds, cultures and life experiences and shares a passion for continuous learning and growth.
- Staff organized educational programs and community outings to honor the richness and diversity of our community.
- ACHP doesn’t just champion its members’ community investment—we practice it ourselves. Staff gave back to their communities, taking advantage of paid time off for community service in the Washington DC region. Many team members came together to donate to Washington, DC’s Bread for the City.
- A move to a new, modern office space eases interaction and collaboration, while realizing significant operational savings.
ACHP 2025 staff retreat – Legos and AI and Strategy... Oh, my!
ACHP 2025 Members
Monterey, California
Wausau, Wisconsin
Canton, Ohio
Temple, Texas
Albany, New York
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Worcester, Massachusetts
Danville, Pennsylvania
Altoona, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Champaign, Illinois
Detroit, Michigan
Springfield, Massachusetts
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Buffalo, New York
Oakland, California
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Portland, Oregon
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Marshfield, Wisconsin
Salt Lake City, Utah
ACHP 2025 CAP and Affiliate Members
©2026 ACHP