Citizens' Council for Health Freedom
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The Citizens' Council for Health Freedom (CCHF) is a right-wing 501(c)3 organization based out of St. Paul, Minnesota. CCHF is an associate member of the State Policy Network.[1]
Formerly the Citizens' Council on Health Care, the organization changed its name in October 2010. CCHF's work is "promoting the principles of free market health care, freedom in health care decision-making, and protection of patient autonomy and dignity."[2]
State Policy Network
SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. As of June 2024, SPN's membership totals 167. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party. SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told the Wall Street Journal in 2017 that the revenue of the combined groups was some $80 million, but a 2022 analysis of SPN's main members IRS filings by the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the combined revenue is over $152 million.[3] Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[4]
In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"[5]
A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.[6]
Core Financials
2015[7]
- Total Revenue: $372,164
- Total Expenses: $387,103
- Net Assets: $326,537
2014[8]
- Total Revenue: $407,599
- Total Expenses: $382,841
- Net Assets: $341,476
2013[9]
- Total Revenue: $360,658
- Total Expenses: $357,191
- Net Assets: $316,718
Personnel
CCHF Board of Directors as of January 12, 2017:[10]
- Maggy Kottman Interim Chair, President, AirCorps, LLC
- Twila Brase, R.N., President & Co-Founder, Public Health Nurse
- Val Baertlein, Secretary, Master in Public Health, Consultant in non-profits
- Michael Beckman, P.T., Treasurer, CEO, Valley Rehabilitation Services
- Chris Kauffman, Director, Mayor, Hanover, MN, Owner and President, K-Manufacturing
- Wesley J. Harvey, Director J.D. Candidate - 2016, University of St. Thomas School of Law, President, UST Health Law Society
- Martin Kellogg, Chairman Emeritus & Co-Founder, Retired CEO, UFE, Inc.
Contact
Employer Identification Number (EIN): 41-1916724
Citizens' Council for Health Freedom
161 St. Anthony Avenue, Ste 923
St. Paul, MN 55103
Email: info@cchfreedom.org
Website: http://www.cchfreedom.org
Phone: (651).646.8935
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cchfreedom
Twitter: @CCHFreedom
References
- ↑ State Policy Network, Directory, organizational website, accessed January 12, 2017.
- ↑ Citizens Council for Health Freedom, Facebook page, Facebook, accessed February 16, 2017.
- ↑ David Armiak, State Policy Network and Affiliates Raises $152 Million Annually to Push Right-Wing Policies, ExposedbyCMD, September 30, 2022.
- ↑ Rebekah Wilce, Center for Media and Democracy, EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
- ↑ Jane Mayer, Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?, The New Yorker, November 15, 2013.
- ↑ Ed Pilkington and Suzanne Goldenberg, State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax, The Guardian, December 5, 2013.
- ↑ Citizens' Council for Health Freedom, 2015 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, April 7, 2016.
- ↑ Citizens' Council for Health Freedom, 2014 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, May 13, 2015.
- ↑ Citizens' Council for Health Freedom, 2013 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, April 25, 2014.
- ↑ Citizens' Council for Health Freedom, About, organizational website, accessed February 16, 2017.
