Health Affairs

Health Affairs is a monthly, peer-reviewed health and health care policy journal published by Project HOPE. The journal, which maintains editorial independence from Project HOPE, publishes research, reviews, commentary, and analysis, as well as journalistic content and personal stories. Several issues each year are devoted to specific themes.

The journal was established in 1981 as a quarterly by its founding editor, John K. Iglehart, who served as editor until 2007 (then again on an interim basis from 2013 to 2014). Donald E. Metz was appointed interim editor-in-chief in 2025 after Alan R. Weil departed in 2024. Other past editors include James C. Robinson and Susan Dentzer.

The journal’s current impact factor (2024) is 8.1.

Through its publications and other activities, Health Affairs explores health policy issues of current concern in both domestic and international spheres. Its mission is to serve as a high-level, nonpartisan forum to promote analysis and discussion on improving health and health care, addressing such issues as cost, quality, access, and nonmedical determinants of health. Iglehart described the journal's aim as "provoking a constructive domestic U.S. dialogue between the warring political parties and countless private stakeholders."

The journal’s audience includes government and health industry leaders; health care advocates; scholars of health, health care, and health policy; and others concerned with health and health care issues in the United States and worldwide.

The journal has been described in The Washington Post as “the bible of health policy” and a “must-read for anyone with a serious interest in medicine, health care and health care policy.” Health Affairs’ articles are regularly covered in major news media and read and cited by leaders around the globe, including members of Congress, ministry of health officials, and members of the judicial branch.