Some big names in health care want to fix what they see as abroken system. First, they are mendingfences.

Last year, a ferocious partisan battle left the Affordable Care Act,President Barack Obama’s signature health law, fractured butlargely intact. Andy Slavitt, a former top health official in theObama administration, was one of the fiercest defenders of the law,rallying his nearly 200,000 Twitter followers to fight Republicanefforts to overturn it.

Now, Slavitt is leading a new nonpartisan group of politicians,policy makers, executives and other public figures, calledUnited States of Care, that will push forpolicy changes based on the idea that despite deep political divisions, Americans want manyof the same things when it comes to their health.

“The reality is that there are tons of details that almosteveryone agrees on, we just don’t focus on them,” said Slavitt, whowill serve as the USC’s chairman. “Public sentiment is fairly wellunified in ways that Washington isn’t.”

The group is starting out as steadily rising costs reshapehealth care. Companies are striking unconventional deals, such asthe proposed acquisition of insurer Aetna Inc. by pharmacy chainCVS Health Corp. Corporate giants Amazon.com Inc., JPMorgan Chase& Co. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. are joining up to try to pushdown employee health expenses. And hospitals led by Utah’sIntermountain Health Care Inc. are considering making genericdrugs.

Such developments underline a broad dissatisfaction with thehealth-care system, said Mike Leavitt, a former Republican governorof Utah and Health and Human Services Secretary in the George W.Bush administration who is among the group’s members.

“What you see with Berkshire and JPMorgan and Amazon, those aredata points that say there’s energy behind the collaborativeimprovement of health care,” he said. “What you’re sensing iscommon pain that is ultimately bringing people together.”

Starting in the states

The nonprofit includes top hospital executives and formerlawmakers, as well as actors Bradley Whitford and Andy Richter,entrepreneur Mark Cuban and physician and writer Atul Gawande. Itwill seek to advance economically and politically sustainablepolicies that assure access to affordable care.

It plans to start small, providing support for policy changes atthe state level. The aim is to develop and test ideas that couldeventually be applied in other states and nationwide. The Obama-eraACA law, which drew on a Massachusetts health-care overhaul underRepublican Governor Mitt Romney, is a precedent for such anapproach.

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Looking for solutions at the state level, and sidestepping whathe sees as dysfunction at the federal level, is what helped drawRod Hochman of Providence St. Joseph Health, which is among thebiggest U.S. health systems, to the project.

“There’s a sense of some frustration at the way D.C. is goingabout it,” he said. “We’re not getting anywhere.”

Mark McClellan, a top health official in the administration ofpresident George W. Bush and director of the Margolis Center forHealth Policy at Duke University, is working with the group andanticipates focusing on curbing costs and improving quality,particularly in state Medicaid programs.

“It’s very hard to have sustainable access to affordable carefor people if the cost of health care is so high and rising,”McClellan said. But costs for one party are typically income foranother. “There may well be some difficult discussions ahead.”

Bipartisan board

The organization is trying to prepare for an eventual openingfor bipartisan policy making, while heading off increasinglyvolatile swings in health policy when political fortunes shift inWashington. Already, potential Democratic contenders for the 2020presidential election are signing on to Senator Bernie Sanders’‘Medicare for All’ bill, which has more than a dozen co-sponsors inthe Senate.

Elena Hung, an immigration lawyer and activist who co-foundedthe group Little Lobbyists last year to protect health care forchildren with complex medical needs, is on the group’s advisorycouncil. While Little Lobbyists has found more allies amongprogressives, Hung says it isn’t partisan.

“When decisions are made for our children, there needs to be aseat at the table for our families,” she said.

Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and former Obama adviserKristie Canegallo, two Democrats closely tied to the AffordableCare Act, are on the group’s board, as is former Republican SenateMajority Leader Bill Frist and Jim Douglas, a former Republicangovernor of Vermont, and Dave Durenberger, a former RepublicanSenator from Minnesota.

Among other health-care executives taking part are Bernard Tysonof Kaiser Permanente, David Torchiana of Partners Healthcare, TonyTersigni of Ascension Health, Steve Safyer of Montefiore MedicalCenter, Judy Rich of Tucson Medical Center, BlueCross BlueShieldNorth Carolina Chief Executive Officer Patrick Conway, DignityHealth’s Lloyd Dean, and Richard Gilfillan of Trinity Health.Rhonda Medows, an executive vice president at Providence St.Joseph, is also on the board.

The group won’t disclose its donors, and said it won’t takemoney from partisan groups or for-profit companies. Providence St.Joseph is providing some backing, said CEO Hochman, and Slavittsaid he’s putting up money as well.

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