“Real reform requires transparency—about what care actually costs, about what’s in our food, and about whether a system built around treating disease is actually making us healthier.” – Dr. Monique Yohanan

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Independent Women announced the launch of its Center for Better Health, a new policy center dedicated to advancing practical reforms to build a healthier America by restoring transparency, affordability, accountability, and trust in health care.

The center will be led by Dr. Monique Yohanan, MD, MPH, whose expertise in clinical medicine, public health, and health technology innovation has strengthened Independent Women’s work exposing the failures of a system too often built around treating disease rather than fostering real wellness.

“The Center for Better Health was founded on a simple but uncomfortable truth: America spends more on health care than any nation on earth, and we have the chronic disease burden to show for it,” said Dr. Monique Yohanan, director of the Center for Better Health. “Real reform requires transparency about what care actually costs, about what’s in our food, and about whether a system built around treating disease is actually making us healthier. We’re here to ask the hard questions and push for the answers Americans deserve.”

The center is grounded in a clear premise: health and health care are not the same. Health is shaped by everyday factors outside the clinic—in the food we eat, the products we use, and the exposures we face every day. At the same time, patients deserve a healthcare system that serves them, not corporations, bureaucracies, or middlemen.

The launch of the center expands nearly two decades of Independent Women’s work challenging failing healthcare policies and advancing patient-centered solutions. 

Independent Women’s Voice, the organization’s advocacy arm, was an early leader in exposing the real-world consequences of the Affordable Care Act. Through efforts like the ObamaCare Repeal Coalition, My Cancellation, and Broken Obamacare Promises, Independent Women brought attention to the millions of people across the country who lost coverage, faced rising premiums, or struggled to access care—bringing national attention to the gap between policy promises and patient reality.

That work has since evolved from exposing what’s broken to advancing what comes next. In recent years, Independent Women has focused on rebuilding trust in health care while offering practical, forward-looking solutions. 

Through initiatives like Make America Healthier: The Path To A Healthier Nation, the organization has equipped Americans with clear, science-backed guidance to improve their health and navigate an increasingly complex system.

At the same time, Independent Women has been a leading voice in the push for healthcare price transparency, arguing that patients cannot make informed decisions without clear, actionable information about the cost of care. Earlier this year, Independent Women released national ads, “Fat Cats & A Rigged System and “MAHA Moms,” highlighting one issue that unites more than 95% of Americans across the political spectrum and applying pressure on Washington leaders to deliver transparency and drive healthcare prices down. 


Building on this foundation, Independent Women has also developed market-based alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, including innovative models like the Medical Wallet—a patient-centered approach that gives individuals greater control over how their healthcare dollars are spent. By prioritizing portability, transparency, and direct ownership, these reforms aim to move the system away from bureaucracy and toward one that works for patients.

Key Areas of Focus

The Center for Better Health will advance solutions across several core areas:

  • Healthcare Price Transparency: Advancing enforceable rules that give patients and employers real cost information before care is delivered.
  • Affordability, Access, and Market Reform: Addressing structural problems—site-neutral payments, scope-of-practice barriers, and PBM opacity—that drive up costs without improving care.
  • The Roots of Chronic Disease: Examining how food policy, nutrition programs, environmental exposures, and everyday products contribute to America’s chronic disease epidemic.
  • Overmedicalization and Patient Empowerment: Questioning whether an increasingly medicalized culture is making Americans healthier—or simply more diagnosed, more prescribed, and more dependent.
  • Aging, Alzheimer’s, and Long-Term Care: Addressing policy gaps around early detection, emerging therapies, and sustainable care models.
  • Vaccines and Public Health Trust: Making the case for a more targeted, transparent, and evidence-based approach to public health guidance.
  • Innovation and the Future of Medicine: Evaluating how technology and regulatory reform can accelerate patient-centered treatments at a lower cost.

The new center joins Independent Women’s existing policy centers, including:

Read more of Independent Women’s work towards building a healthier future: 

For media inquiries and booking requests, please email [email protected]. 

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