Speaker biographies

Joseph Antos is the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at AEI. He also is an adjunct professor at the School of Public Health of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mr. Antos’s research focuses on the economics of health policy, including Medicare reform, health insurance regulation, and the uninsured. He is the editor, with Alice Rivlin, of Restoring Fiscal Sanity 2007: The Health Spending Challenge (Brookings Institution Press, 2007). Before joining AEI, Mr. Antos was assistant director for health and human resources at the Congressional Budget Office, and he held senior positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Management and Budget, and the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Richard Burr (R-N.C.) was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004. He focuses on job growth, the economic environment, strong public schools, and affordable health care. He is a vocal advocate for men and women in the military and their families and for the growing population of veterans. Senator Burr serves as ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, where he works to improve the quality of health care and service veterans receive. He also sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee; the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; the Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and the Indian Affairs Committee. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. He currently is a board member of Brenner Children’s Hospital.

Tom A. Coburn, M.D., (R-Okla.) was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004. Dr. Coburn’s priorities in the Senate include reducing wasteful spending, balancing the budget, improving health care access and affordability, and protecting the sanctity of human life. He is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; the Indian Affairs Committee; and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Prior to his election to the Senate, Dr. Coburn represented Oklahoma’s second congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1995 through 2001. He was first elected in 1994, then reelected in 1996 and 1998, becoming the first Republican to hold the seat for consecutive terms. Dr. Coburn retired from Congress in 2001, fulfilling his pledge to serve no more than three terms in the House. He is a licensed physician.

Thomas P. Miller is a resident fellow at AEI, where he researches health policy, with particular emphasis on information transparency, health insurance regulation, and consumer-driven health care. He is also a member of the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Before joining AEI, Mr. Miller served for three years as senior health economist for the Joint Economic Committee, where he organized a series of hearings focusing on promising reforms in private health care markets and drafted several social security reform bills. He also has been director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute and director of economic policy studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Mr. Miller’s writing has appeared in such publications as Health Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Reader’s Digest, National Review, the Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems, Regulation, and Cato Journal. He has testified before various Congressional committees on issues such as Medicare prescription drug benefits, medical savings accounts, and tax credits for health insurance.

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