Consumers Union (CU) is an independent, nonprofit organization that has for 70 years been working for a fair and safe marketplace. CU publishes Consumer Reports and the newsletter Consumer Reports on Health, among other publications. CU recently launched ConsumerReportsHealth.org and the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center. Both highlight CU’s new commitment to help consumers navigate the healthcare system. CU’s magazines and websites accept no advertising.
CU, best known for testing the safety and rating the comparative value of products and services from cars to household appliances to electronics, will apply those same skills to healthcare products and services. CU also advocates for regulations and laws that protect consumers in the marketplace and works with more than 500,000 community and online activists to drive pro-consumer social change.
CU believes that the current healthcare system does not work optimally for consumers and that, even amid the present financial turmoil, healthcare reform and repair must become a national priority over the next few years. CU pledges to join other National Priorities Partners to focus attention on the need for urgent change and promote solutions that can be widely embraced and efficiently implemented.
CU is committed to showcasing consumers’ voices as health reform deliberations evolve, as it did in the summer of 2008 through the Cover America tour.
“It is long past time that we listened much more carefully to what people are really concerned -- and even angry -- about when it comes to experiences with the healthcare system,” said Steven Findlay, CU’s representative to the National Priorities Partnership. “We’re excited about the NPP initiative and look forward to playing an active role and representing consumers’ interests aggressively as this group and the nation think through how to repair our broken system.”
CU’s main website is www.consumersunion.org. The magazine’s website is www.consumerreports.org. The new healthcare site is www.consumerreportshealth.org.