September 13, 2004
Speaker Biographies
Joseph R. Antos is the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at AEI and an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health. He was the assistant director for health and human resources, the division providing Congress with analyses of proposed changes to federal programs and policies in areas such as health, income security, education, employment, and housing, at the Congressional Budget Office. Mr. Antos was the director of the Office of Research and Demonstrations and deputy director of the Office of the Actuary at the Health Care Financing Administration. He was the deputy chief of staff and the principal deputy assistant secretary for management and budget at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kevin A. Hassett is director of economic policy studies and resident scholar at AEI. Before joining AEI, Mr. Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University. He was the chief economic advisor to Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) during the 2000 primaries. He has also served as a policy consultant to the U.S. Department of the Treasury during both the former Bush and Clinton administrations. Mr. Hassett is a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation's Dynamic Scoring Advisory Panel. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of six books on economics and economic policy. He has published scholarly articles in the American Economic Review, the Economic Journal, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Public Economics, and many other professional journals. His popular writings have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic Monthly, USA Today, the Washington Post, and numerous other outlets. His economic commentaries are regularly aired on radio and television, including recent appearances on the Today Show, the CBS Morning Show, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Hardball, Moneyline, and Power Lunch.
Robert B. Helms is a resident scholar and the director of health policy studies at AEI. He has written and lectured extensively on health policy, health economics, and pharmaceutical economic issues. Mr. Helms currently participates in the Consensus Group, an informal task force that is developing market-oriented health reform concepts. From 1981 to 1989, he served as the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation and deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Helms is the editor of several AEI publications on health policy: Medicare in the Twenty-first Century: Seeking Fair and Efficient Reform; American Health Policy: Critical Issues for Reform; Health Policy Reform: Competition and Controls; Health Care Policy and Politics: Lessons from Four Countries; and Competitive Strategies in the Pharmaceutical Industry.
Kenneth J. Kies is managing director of the Federal Policy Group, a practice of Clark Consulting, Inc. The Federal Policy Group provides sophisticated strategic and technical tax advice on tax policy matters before the Congress, the U.S. Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and the OECD. Before the acquisition of the Federal Policy Group by Clark Consulting in February 2002, Mr. Kies was co-managing partner of the Washington National Tax Services office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, he served as the chief of staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) from January 1995 until January 1998. Before becoming chief of staff of the JCT, he was the firm-wide chair of the Tax Practice for Baker & Hostetler. From 1982 to 1987, Mr. Kies served as chief Republican tax counsel to the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Before joining the Ways and Means Committee staff in 1981, he was a tax associate with Baker & Hostetler, where he began the practice of law in 1977 in Cleveland. As a leading expert on tax policy issues, he frequently appears on radio and television, including National Public Radio, ABC, CNN, Fox News, and C Span and is regularly quoted in print news publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, and others.
Roland "Guy" King is an independent consulting actuary. Prior to 1995, he served as chief actuary for the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) for sixteen years. He has been an industry leader in public sector health financing programs. As chief actuary at HCFA, he was responsible for preparing financial projections for the Medicare and Medicaid programs, developing and determining the indices for provider payment updates, and compiling estimates of national health expenditures. Mr. King has testified before congressional committees many times on issues relating to the Medicare program. He has received numerous awards for his work, including two Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank awards. He has written and spoken extensively on issue relating to the financing of health care, the financial status of the Medicare program, and social insurance. Mr. King is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Donald N. Muse, founder and president of Muse & Associates, has more than twenty-nine years experience in directing studies on the costs and cost effectiveness of government and private health care programs. A special area of his interest and expertise is the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Former employment with the Health Care Financing Administration's Office of the Actuary and the Congressional Budget Office gives Mr. Muse an insider's view on how health care costs are established. He brings that knowledge to his present work on behalf of many clients, including pharmaceutical companies, health care trade associations, health technology manufacturers, and universities, as well as health care providers. Mr. Muse has given over 100 public speeches in the past four years. He is also the author/coauthor of three books and numerous articles.
Thomas F. Wildsmith is a consulting actuary in the Hay Group's Arlington, Virginia, office. He has twenty-one years of experience dealing with all aspects of health insurance policy and financing, including twelve years of operational experience with a commercial carrier and nine years advocacy experience with a major health insurance trade association. Mr. Wildsmith's operational experience includes pricing, product development, systems development and management, and providing actuarial support for small and large groups on all group products, including managed care, Life, LTD, and ancillary group products. Mr. Wildsmith is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Gail Wilensky is a senior fellow at Project HOPE, an international health education foundation, where she analyzes and develops policies relating to health reform and to ongoing changes in the medical marketplace. Ms. Wilensky testifies frequently before Congressional committees, acts as an adviser to members of Congress and other elected officials, and speaks nationally and internationally before professional, business, and consumer groups. From 2001 to 2003, she cochaired the President's Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for Our Nation's Veterans, which covered health care for both veterans and military retirees. From 1997 to 2001, she chaired the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on payment and other issues relating to Medicare, and from 1995 to 1997, she chaired the Physician Payment Review Commission. Previously, she served as deputy assistant to President George H. W. Bush for policy development, advising him on health and welfare issues. Before that, she was administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, overseeing the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Judy Xanthopoulos is an economist working on independent consulting and research. She is also a principal in Quantria Strategies, LLC, where she develops micro simulation models for tax policy analysis. During the past fifteen years, she spent nearly ten years with the Joint Committee on Taxation of the U.S. Congress as an economist analyzing tax policy and legislative proposals. In addition, she has approximately five years combined experience working for the National Center for Health Services Research and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
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