Joel White

He is the Executive Director of the Health IT Now Coalition (www.healthitnow.org), a diverse group of organizations representing patients, health providers, health insurers, agents, and brokers, employers and unions that have come together to help integrate information technology into health care. Mr. White is also the Executive Director of the Coalition for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC, www.cahc.net), a broad-based coalition that came together to address the issues of the uninsured by increasing access to affordable health insurance. CAHC members include physician groups, business groups, insurance carriers, insurance brokers, consumer groups and others who believe that affordability of coverage is the most basic component of access to health care.

In his decade plus on Capitol Hill, Mr. White helped enact nine laws, including Medicare Modernization Act, the Deficit Reduction Act, the Trade Act and the Tax Relief and Health Care Act. From 2004 to 2006 Mr. White was the Staff Director of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee with responsibility for advising Members of Congress and directing staff on all policy issues within the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee. The issues included Medicare, Health Savings Accounts, tax credits for health insurance, HIPAA, mental health parity, and health information technology.

Mr. White began working for the Committee on Ways and Means in April 2001. As a professional staff member on the Health Subcommittee he was responsible for Medicare reform and prescription drugs, HIPAA, insurance and health tax issues. Prior to joining the Committee on Ways and Means, Mr. White worked for Congressman Jim Greenwood (R-PA) and Congressman Chris Shays (R-CT). He worked at the National Taxpayers Union, as a Senior Policy Advisor focusing on health and budget related issues. Between 1995 and 1997, Mr. White was an Adjunct Scholar at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution.

Mr. White has been a member of the National Economist's Club for nine years. He is the co-author of the book, "Facts and Figures on Government Finance", which brings together data on public finance at all levels of government, with comparisons of taxing and spending levels spanning a half century. Mr. White graduated from American University in 1992 with a degree in International Relations and Economics. He lives in Arlington, VA with his wife and young son.