SCHOLARS

Laura L. Carstensen is Professor of Psychology and Founding Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, a new interdisciplinary initiative focused on using increased life-expectancy to improve quality of life at all ages. For more than twenty years her research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging and in 2005 she was honored with a MERIT award which extends this support another decade. Carstensen is best known for socioemotional selectivity theory, a life-span theory of motivation. Her most current empirical research focuses on ways in which motivational changes influence cognitive processing. Carstensen recently chaired two National Research Council Committees on future directions in aging and currently serves on the Board of Science Advisors (Beirat) to the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. In 2003, she was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow. In 2006 she received the Distinguished Career Award from the Gerontological Society of America. Professor Carstensen received a BS from the University of Rochester and a MA and PhD from West Virginia University.

Victor Fuchs is the Henry J. Kaiser, Jr., Professor of Economics and of Health Research and Policy, emeritus; an Freeman Spogli Institute senior fellow; and a core faculty member at the Stanford Center for Health Policy. He uses economic theory to provide a framework for the collection and analysis of healthcare data. He has written extensively on the cost of medical care and on determinants of health, with an emphasis on the role of socioeconomic factors. He has been particularly interested in the role of physician behavior and financial incentives in determining healthcare expenditures. His current research examines the role of attitudes and beliefs in public support for national health insurance. He is also developing a proposal for a “universal healthcare voucher” system in which all families or individuals would be given a voucher — financed by an earmarked value-added tax — that would guarantee them coverage in a private health plan with a standardized package of benefits, including basic health services and catastrophic coverage.

Alan M. Garber is the founding director of both the Center for Health Policy (CHP) and the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research (PCOR) at Stanford University, where he is the Henry J. Kaiser Jr., Professor; a professor of medicine; and professor, by courtesy, of economics and of health research and policy. His research focuses on methods for improving healthcare delivery and financing – particularly for the elderly – in settings of limited resources. He has developed methods for determining the cost-effectiveness of health interventions, and he studies ways to structure financial and organizational incentives to ensure that cost-effective care is delivered. In addition, his research explores how clinical practice patterns and healthcare market characteristics influence technology adoption, health expenditures and health outcomes in the United States and other countries. He is principal investigator of the Center on Advancing Decision Making in Aging and the Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging, multidisciplinary research efforts both based at Stanford University. He also leads the Global Healthcare Productivity project, which includes collaborators from 19 nations.

Daniel P. Kessler is a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, a professor (by courtesy) at Stanford Law School, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research interests include empirical studies in antitrust law, law and economics, and the economics of health care. He holds a PhD in economics from M.I.T. and a law degree from Stanford. He has won awards for his advising and research from Stanford, the National Institute of Health Care Management Foundation, and the International Health Economics Association. He has received grants from the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the California Health Care Foundation. He has served as a consultant to corporations, foundations, and the governments of the United States and Canada. He has taught courses in health economics, public policy, and antitrust law at Stanford and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published numerous papers in economics journals and law reviews. He has also written extensively on health care reform for the Wall Street Journal and Health Affairs. His new book, Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Five Steps to a Better Health Care System (with John Cogan and R. Glenn Hubbard), outlines how market-based health care reform in the U.S. can help fix our system’s current problems. Currently, he is investigating how to use medical claims data to identify the types of health care providers that are likely to commit Medicare fraud and abuse.

POLITICAL EXPERTS

In developing the policy solutions, feedback was solicited in verbal and written format from more than a dozen political and policy experts in Washington, DC. Leading the outreach and forming policy recommendations throughout the project were veteran political and policy insiders:

Mary Beth Cahill, as one of the top political strategists of her generation, provided the political leadership and vision that helped Democrats retake both the House and the Senate in the 2006 midterm elections. The only woman to head up a presidential campaign in 2004 – she was John Kerry’s campaign director, leading his dramatic turnaround in the primaries. A recognized expert on what motivates women voters, Cahill has trained female candidates to run for political office in Russia, Macedonia, and Ireland. Tough-minded and candid, she approaches politics with an uncompromising combination of intelligence, decency and commitment. Cahill has been working in the trenches of electoral politics for most of her career, honing her talents by managing campaigns of U.S. House and Senate candidates. She was an assistant to the president during the Clinton administration and, while working for the venerable EMILY’s List, Cahill turned the pro-choice PAC into an unrivaled political powerhouse. Currently, Cahill is one of three principals behind the Atlas Project, which is developing a comprehensive strategy for Democratic presidential victory in 2008.

Linda E. Tarplin is a Co-Founder of Tarplin, Downs & Young, LLC. – a healthcare consulting firm that specializes in strategic consulting and policy development for both the legislative and regulatory processes. Tarplin served in senior positions in the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services under two Republican Presidents. Tarplin was Special Assistant for Legislative Affairs to President George H. W. Bush, serving as the White House liaison to the Congress on health care issues. Prior to that, she served under both Presidents Bush and Ronald Reagan in both legislative and policy positions in the Department of Health and Human Services. Tarplin served in the Office of Legislative Affairs as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation overseeing legislative policies affecting the Department. Before joining the Reagan Administration, Tarplin oversaw health care legislation for former Representative Bill Frenzel, a Republican member of the Ways and Means Committee. In 1993, She was a founding principal of the OB-C Group (founded as O’Brien- Calio) and had built and managed their health care practice until the formation of the new firm in January of 2006.

THE PUBLIC

More than 2,000 voters were surveyed in March, 2009 and focus groups were conducted in Cleveland and Denver in Summer, 2008. Overseeing the public piece of the dialogue were two seasoned political and policy pollsters:

Vince Breglio is President of VJ Breglio and Associates Consulting; Director Edelman Public Relations Asia; Director Research / Strategy / Management, Inc.; and Adjunct Professor of Communications Brigham Young University. In 1969 Breglio co-founded Decision Making Information, later re-named Wirthlin Worldwide with Richard Wirthlin. He served as Executive Vice President, Head of International Teams for the market research and public relations company, Wirthlin Worldwide and was an advisor to the Lincoln Group. Breglio worked on the 1980 Reagan Presidential campaigns as Deputy Director of Strategy and as Senior Consultant on his 1984 campaign. Breglio worked as Director of Polling for the Bush-Quayle Presidential campaign in 1988.

Geoffrey D. Garin is the President of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, one of the nation’s leading survey research firms. He became President of Hart Research in 1984, after having worked in the firm since 1978 as a Senior Analyst and Vice President. Mr. Garin has brought his skill, insight, and innovative approaches as a researcher and strategist to a wide variety of fields – including social and economic policy, consumer marketing, and politics. Mr. Garin has conducted polling projects for a wide variety of foundations and non-profit organizations. He has conducted research on health care issues for the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association of America. His work on international policy issues includes studies for CARE, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and the United Nations Foundation. Mr. Garin also has conducted extensive strategic research for the American labor movement, including projects for the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Service Employees International Union. Since 1993 he has conducted regular polling on the attitudes of younger Americans for MTV. On behalf of EMILY’s List, he has directed ongoing research about the political attitudes and values of women. He has conducted strategic messaging research for many of America’s leading advocacy organizations on issues such as Social Security, the environment, civil rights, and personal privacy. Mr. Garin graduated from Harvard College in 1975.