The rising cost of medical services remains a daily struggle for patients, employees, employers of every size and taxpayers who fund public health insurance programs. The nation has become so accustomed to rising costs that many forget health care spending was stable as recently as the late 1990’s – a situation which many experts attributed to health insurance plans’ use of network-based health care coverage. Health costs began escalating more rapidly from 2000 to 2002, as limitations were placed on health plans’ cost-containment tools. By continuing to innovate, health plans have again begun to moderate the growth in costs. Today, health care costs – and the insurance premiums that reflect these costs – are rising at approximately half the rate of five years ago. Yet they are still increasing far faster than many Americans can afford. AHIP has developed a new affordability strategy that teams health plan innovations with sensible public policy reforms to confront the key factors that drive health care costs.