Our Mission
The Galen Institute was founded in 1995 as a non-profit, Section 501(c)(3) public policy research organization devoted to advancing ideas and policies to create a vibrant, patient-centered health sector. The mission is to facilitate public debate and education about proposals that support individual freedom, consumer choice, and competition in the health sector.
Galen’s policies support continued medical innovation, advances in personalized medicine, and expanded access to more affordable health care and coverage in a 21st century economy. We work to promote policies that lead to personal control over health care and health insurance, lower costs through market competition, and a strong safety net for vulnerable populations.
The Galen Institute believes that:
- Consumers and their physicians should have authority and responsibility over health care decisions supported by transparent and accessible information about costs and choices
- A vibrant free market that supports innovation will encourage research and will lead to lower costs, expanded choice, and increased access to better medical care, including the newest technologies.
The Galen Institute has many plans to counter the march toward government-controlled medicine and shift the debate toward ideas that offer greater freedom and more affordable health care choices.
Through our extensive communications and coalition-building expertise, we work to:
- Educate policymakers about the dangers that government control over the health sector pose to our economy and our society
- Reach out through the media to educate the public about the crucial importance of continued innovation to advance medical progress, and
- Attract new audiences to our message through the use of our popular newsletters, our websites, coalitions we facilitate, and a variety of other communications tools.
Galen has been and remains on the cutting edge in offering ideas and studies to educate the public, opinion leaders, and legislators about the benefits of putting consumers in charge of making decisions about the health coverage that is best for them and their families.
History
The Galen Institute was founded by Grace-Marie Turner (then, Arnett) in 1995 to promote an informed conversation over free-market ideas in the health sector. Our first major conference was held on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in March of 1996, and was entitled “A Fresh Approach to Health Care Reform.” The papers presented at the conference were developed into chapters and later were published in Empowering Health Care Consumers through Tax Reform, a peer-reviewed volume published by the University of Michigan Press. We have been actively involved in educating the debate over every major health policy initiative since then.
The Galen Institute continues to facilitate an active policy conversation among participants in the Health Policy Consensus Group, including our latest policy recommendations in Health Care Choices 20/20.
The institute has published numerous landmark papers. One of the first was “Uninsured Rates Rise Dramatically in States With Strictest Health Insurance Regulations.” It provided solid evidence to state legislators that their infatuation with state health insurance regulations and coverage mandates harmed their citizens by driving up the cost of health insurance and forcing more people to become uninsured. The evidence has accumulated over the years to prove our study was correct even as policymakers continue to massively intervene in our health sector, driving up costs and limiting choices, while infusing trillions of taxpayer dollars in attempts to remedy the cascade of poor policy decisions.
Our work continues to focus on the uninsured and better ways to access care through private health plans. We work to make markets friendlier to purchasers and to encourage new options for consumers, from Health Savings Accounts to Direct Primary Care. Our 2021 Annual Report provides highlights of our 25-year history of fighting for health freedom.
The Galen Institute has joined forces with DonorsTrust, a leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit donor-advised fund provider for the freedom movement. We are now known as Galen Institute at Donors, LLC, operating under DonorsTrust.
Background on Galen Institute at Donors, LLC
On August 1, 2022, the Galen Institute, Inc. transitioned from operating as a free-standing entity to become a program of Donors Trust (donorstrust.org), a tax-exempt organization as described in sections 501(c)(3), 170(b)(1)(A)(vi), and 509(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Galen program at Donors Trust is housed in Donors Trust’s solely owned LLC, known as the Galen Institute at Donors LLC.
Galen Institute at Donors LLC (galen.org) continues the activities of the Galen Institute, Inc. under the auspices of Donors Trust Inc., and maintains the same mission: to advance ideas and policies to create a vibrant, patient-centered health sector.
The Galen Institute at Donors LLC is a disregarded entity for federal income and estate and gift tax purposes, so use of “Donors Trust” and “Galen Institute at Donors LLC” are inter-changeable with respect to any discussion of income and estate and gift tax issues.
Annual Reports
