Excitement Builds for Hot Issues Keynote Speakers

Mid-term elections are now in the history books. That means no more political ads (for now) and a new set of legislators to invite to our Hot Issues in Health Care conference early next month.

Those new legislators will be hearing from us in the coming days with an invitation.

With the conference less than a month away, we are busy finalizing many details. Among these are the topics of our three keynote speakers.

For this edition of Our Work This Week, we have an overview of our speakers and a preview of their keynotes.

Cindy Gillespie, veteran political advisor, is Senior Managing Director in the Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge, a law firm based in Washington, D.C. She leads the firm’s Health Care Policy Team. Cindy served as counselor to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, playing a leading role in the development of that state’s health insurance reform plan. She plans to provide an inside view of health policy at the national level, speaking about such policy innovations in the Medicaid program.

Stuart Butler, Senior Fellow of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, will also keynote on Day One. Before joining Brookings earlier this year, Stuart spent 35 years at the Heritage Foundation as the Director of the Center of Policy Innovation. Before that, he was Vice-President for Domestic and Economic Policy Studies. He also serves on multiple boards and advisory councils.

Stuart’s Hot Issues talk will set the scene for the conference by examining the relationship between the federal government and the states when it comes to health policy, as well as the tensions and opportunities faced by states.

Susan Urahn is our keynote speaker for the second day of the conference. Susan is the Executive Vice President of The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she directs Pew’s nonpartisan research, technical assistance and advocacy work. Prior to joining Pew in 1994, Susan worked in policy research and evaluation with the Minnesota House of Representatives and at the University of Minnesota.

Her Hot Issues talk will discuss health policy trends that transcend politics and that states will be addressing moving forward.

The conference also will feature speakers from a number of local health and health policy organizations who will co-presenting with Colorado Health Institute staffers.

Visit the Hot Issues page on our website for a detailed agenda, registration instructions and a new video from CEO Michele Lueck inviting you to join.