What We Advocate For

Our vision is a world free of lung disease. To get there, we must advocate for laws, rules and policies that improve lung health, reduce tobacco use and clean up pollution in the air we breathe.

With your help, we can ensure our policymakers pay attention to issues that affect lung health and take action to pass laws and put in place programs that will save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease.

Learn more about our priorities and how you can help:

Improving lung health and preventing lung disease is the core of our mission. We support measures that will reduce the burden of lung disease on individuals and their families. 

We advocate for:  

  • Support investments and policies that eliminate health disparities caused by systemic racism; and build health equity across all policy areas;  
  • Increased funding for research, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cures for all lung diseases 
  • Increased funding for public health infrastructure and programs that impact lung health

How You Can Help

Join the Lung Action Network.  Sign up and take action to stop lung disease.

Share the Message. Follow us on social media and help spread the word about #lunghealth.

Learn More.
Lung Health Policy Positions | Research Policy Positions | Advocacy Archive | Our Research Initiatives | Our Lung Health Initiatives

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., killing close to 500,000 Americans each year. We support measures to eliminate tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke, to promote access to quit tobacco treatments, to prevent youth from starting to use tobacco in the first place and to eliminate tobacco-related health disparities and inequities. 

We advocate for: 

  • Robust regulation of all tobacco products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 
  • Increased funding for tobacco prevention, education and quitting programs 
  • Smokefree laws and policies that include e-cigarettes 
  • Increasing tobacco taxes 
  • Comprehensive insurance coverage for tobacco cessation (quitting) treatments 
  • Eliminating all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah and menthol cigarettes

How You Can Help

Join the Lung Action Network. Sign up and take action to prevent and reduce tobacco use.

Share the Message. Follow us on social media and help #MakeTobaccoHistory.

Learn More.
Tobacco and Health Policy Positions | Advocacy Archive |  Our Tobacco Initiatives

Air pollution poses a serious threat to our nation's health. We work to ensure that the air we all breathe is clean and safe. 

We advocate for: 

  • Up-to-date clean air standards and the Clean Air Act 
  • Cleaning up sources of outdoor air pollution 
  • Protecting lung health from the impacts of climate change 
  • Reducing radon and other air pollutants indoors 
  • Increased funding for lung-related behavioral and environmental research and research training;  

How You Can Help

Join the Lung Action Network. Sign up and take action to improve the air we breathe.

Share Your Story. Read stories from people like you and let us know what inspires you to take action in support of healthy, safe air.

Share the Message. Follow us on social media and help us achieve #cleanair4kids.

Learn More.
Healthy Air Policy Positions | Energy and Transportation Policy Positions | Advocacy Archive | Healthy Air Campaign

Everyone needs quality and affordable healthcare, especially people with lung cancer and chronic lung diseases like asthma and COPD.  

We advocate for:  

  • Universal access to quality and affordable healthcare including preventive services and immunizations. Coverage must be consistent with evidence-based guidelines; 
  • Protecting patients from surprise medical bills, and “skimpy” or “junk” plans that do not provide quality, affordable coverage. 
  • Supporting and strengthening Medicaid, including closing the coverage gap for people in non-expansion states, ensuring comprehensive coverage tailored to the populations that Medicaid serves and protection from out-of-pocket costs. 
  • Improving affordability of quality healthcare, including by making enhanced subsidies for marketplace coverage permanent.  

How You Can Help

Join the Lung Action Network. Sign up and take action to support quality and affordable healthcare.

Share Your Story. Read stories from people like you and let us know why healthcare is important to you.

Share the Message. Follow us on social media and help us achieve #healthcare.

Learn More.

Lung Health Policy Positions | Healthcare Policy & Advocacy | Enrolling in Quality and Affordable Healthcare CoverageAdvocacy Archive

Our Public Policy Agenda

See the top priorities for the American Lung Association's federal advocacy efforts for the 118th Congress (2023-2024).
View agenda

Our Federal Action Plan

See the specific legislative and regulatory actions that Congress and the Administration can take to improve lung health. These actions support the Public Policy Priorities laid out in our Public Policy Agenda.
View plan

Page last updated: November 8, 2023

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