HCCI’s mission is to promote independent research and analyses on the causes of rising U.S. health spending, to provide policymakers, consumers, and researchers with better, more transparent information on what is driving health care costs, and to help ensure that, over time, the nation is able to obtain a greater value from its health spending. Through HCCI, researchers have access to health care cost and utilization data that covers all ages and health issues, is national in nature, and includes previously inaccessible data on the private health insurance market. Researchers and policymakers are able to use the data to study the health care system, evaluate existing and new ways to contain costs, and assess quality.