Speakers 2009: Len Nichols, PhD
Len Nichols, a health economist and policy analyst, directs the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation. Len came to New America to work more explicitly toward solutions rather than just describe the complex problems of our health care system. He will continue to study ways to combine cost containment with coverage expansion, ever-focused on the ultimate goal of health insurance coverage for all Americans with shared financial burdens that are sustainable. Len will also add a moral voice to the health policy debate, to remind policy makers why this issue is so important to real people and to our country. He has testified frequently before Congress and state legislators and has published widely in a variety of health-related journals on health insurance coverage, financing, and delivery system issues. Most recently, Len has worked with Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) on his health reform legislation (S. 334) now co-sponsored by Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT), and with the governors or legislators in California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Washington, Arkansas, Ohio, and Utah to shape coverage expansion and cost-growth containment strategies.
Before joining New America, Dr. Nichols was the Vice President of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a Principal Research Associate at the Urban Institute, and the Senior Advisor for Health Policy at the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton reform efforts of 1993-94. Previously, Dr. Nichols was Chair of the Economics Department at Wellesley College, where he taught for 10 years. He also served as a member of the Competitive Pricing Advisory Commission (CPAC) and the 2001 Technical Review Panel for the Medicare Trustees Reports. He was on the advisory panel to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Covering America project and has been a consultant to the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank, and the Pan American Health Organization. Dr. Nichols received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois.