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Marilyn Tavenner
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| Marilyn Tavenner | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Organization: | America's Health Insurance Plans | ||
| Role: | President and CEO | ||
| Location: | Washington, D.C. | ||
| Affiliation: | Democratic | ||
| Education: | Virginia Commonwealth University | ||
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Marilyn B. Tavenner is the president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, a 501(c)(6) trade association that represents the private health insurance industry in the United States.
Career
Hospital Corporation of America
After earning her bachelor's and master's degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University, Tavenner began working for the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). She initially worked as a nurse at Johnson-Willis Hospital in Richmond, Virginia; she became CEO of the hospital in 1993 and was president of HCA's Central Atlantic Division in 2001. According to her official biography as administrator of CMS, Tavenner "finished her service to HCA in 2005 as Group President of Outpatient Services, where she spearheaded the development of a national strategy for freestanding outpatient services, including physician recruitment and real estate development."[1]
Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources
From 2006 to 2010, Tavenner served as the secretary of Health and Human Resources in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Her time in this position coincided with an economic recession, and Tavenner was credited with pragmatically cutting programs in her department. Jill Hanken, an attorney with the Virginia Poverty Law Center, told The Commonwealth Fund of Tavenner's ability to balance budget and policy:[2]
| “ | When she was health and human services secretary at the beginning point of the recession, it was really essential that all the agencies under the Cabinet would operate as efficiently as possible. ... he was involved in delicately using the scalpel to cut programs for fiscal reasons. But at the same time, there were some important steps forward in terms of prenatal care, protection of safety net programs for the uninsured, and improvements for foster care children.[3] | ” |
In 2007, when she was awarded the March of Dimes Citizen of the Year award.[1]
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Beginning in 2011, when she was first nominated for the position, Tavenner served as the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Meidcaid Services. After a second nomination, she was confirmed to be administrator by the U.S. Senate on May 15, 2013, by a vote of 97-1.[4] Tavenner was the first confirmed administrator since 2006 and the first Democrat confirmed in 15 years.[5]
While at CMS, Tavenner oversaw the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the Healthcare.gov website rollout. According to USA Today, she was largely commended for weathering the difficult rollout of the website. The paper quoted Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell as saying, "It goes without saying that Marilyn will be remembered for her leadership in opening the health insurance marketplace."[6]
In January 2015, Tavenner announced that she would resign in February 2015. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Ms. Tavenner, 63, didn’t give a reason for her departure in a farewell email to CMS staff."[7]
Confirmation vote
Tavenner was confirmed by the Senate on May 15, 2013, by a vote of 91-7.[4]
| Marilyn Tavenner confirmation vote, May 15, 2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes for  |
Votes against  |
Total votes |
 Democrats |
51 | 0 | 51 |
 Republicans |
38 | 7 | 45 |
 Independents |
2 | 0 | 2 |
| Total Votes | 91 | 7 | 98 |
America's Health Insurance Plans
- See also: America's Health Insurance Plans
In July 2015, Tavenner became president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade organization representing health insurance providers. At the time of her hiring, The New York Times reported that Tavenner would "lead the industry in a time of tumultuous changes and challenges, including delicate negotiations with Congress over the future of the Affordable Care Act."[8]
The beginning of Tavenner's tenure was marked by the departures of two large health insurance companies, Aetna and UnitedHealth. UnitedHealth, the largest insurer in the U.S., left AHIP in June 2015. The company commented that AHIP no longer represented their best interests, saying, "AHIP has set forth a strategy and direction it feels best serves a membership profile and need that does not fit UnitedHealth Group and our diversified portfolio."[9] Aetna left AHIP in January 2016. According to The Hill, the departures were due to two major factors, "that the group’s focus had been placed too heavily on smaller, regional insurers and the nonprofits, according to lobbyists" and AHIP's "goal of advancing ObamaCare."[10]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Marilyn Tavenner'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, "Administrator," archived December 17, 2014
- ↑ The Commonwealth Fund, "Ten Questions About Marilyn Tavenner," December 5, 2011
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 GovTrack, "On the Nomination: Marilyn Tavenner," May 15, 2013
- ↑ Politico, "Marilyn Tavenner approved by Senate for CMS post," May 15, 2013
- ↑ USA Today, "Obamacare official to leave after successes, messes, January 16, 2015
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Top Health Official Marilyn Tavenner to Step Down," accessed May 10, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Head of Obama’s Health Care Rollout to Lobby for Insurers," July 15, 2015
- ↑ Reuters, "UnitedHealth leaves insurance industry lobbying group AHIP," June 23, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Aetna departure a major blow for insurers group," January 5, 2016
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