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Health Policy: 2008 Presidential Election and Universal Coverage

Panelists will discuss the health care platforms of the current presidential candidates and the policy implications of each. Specifically, the panel will address the climate for reform and the importance of this topic as a predominant domestic issue. Is the U.S. ready for Universal Health Coverage? Panelists will comment on the potential pros and cons of such a radical change to our nation's health care system.

Confirmed Panelists:

Moderator & Panelist Bios

Kristiana Raube, Ph.D., MPH, Executive Director, Graduate Program in Health Management, UC Berkeley
Kristiana Raube, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Professor at the Haas School of Business and the Executive Director of the Graduate Program in Health Management at the University of California Berkeley, a program that prepares students for leadership roles in all aspects of healthcare, including care delivery and financing, biotechnology and medical devices, information technology, and consulting. Dr. Raube has worked to increase health management capacity through executive education and program development in the US and around the world, including China, India, Vietnam, Romania, Uganda, Lesotho, Togo, and the Demographic Republic of the Congo, among others. Her research focuses on the delivery and financing of health services and she has evaluated a large number of health programs, including ones focused on physician payment, quality of care, access to care, infant mortality, and community-based health care.

Dr. Raube received her doctorate in public policy from the RAND Graduate School of Policy Studies, her masters in public health from UCLA, and her bachelors of arts degree in biology from the University of Colorado.

Christopher C. Ohman, President and CEO, California Association of Health Plans
Christopher C. Ohman, serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer for the California Association of Health Plans, a statewide trade association. The association represents 40 Knox-Keene licensed health care plans operating in California which provide health care coverage to more than 21 million members.

A veteran of the California health care system with more than 15 years experience, prior to joining CAHP, Mr. Ohman served as Chief Executive of the Commercial Business Unit for Blue Shield of California, a unit representing 1.8 million members. His other health care experience includes finance and operations roles with health plans and medical groups. Prior to his work in health care, he was a banker with The Chase Manhattan Bank.

Mr. Ohman holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from Lewis and Clark College, and a Masters degree in Public Administration from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs at Princeton University. Mr. Ohman has also served as a Visiting Faculty member at the Haas School of Business.

Helen Halpin, Ph.D., Professor, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley
Helen Ann Halpin, PhD. is Professor of Health Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, where she has been on the faculty for 18 years. She is also the Director of the Center for Health and Public Policy Studies at UC Berkeley and she is the Vice-Chair of the California Health Benefits Review Program. She teaches undergraduate, masters and doctoral level courses in health policy and politics. Her research concerns the integration of prevention into the US healthcare system and universal coverage. She received her Masters of Science in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health, where she was on the faculty for four years, and received her PhD in Social Welfare Policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University.

Murray N. Ross, Ph.D., Vice President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, and Director, Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy
Murray Ross is Vice President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, and Director of the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy in Oakland, California. His current work focuses on how the U.S. health system can use new medical technologies more effectively. Before joining Kaiser Permanente in 2002, Dr. Ross was an advisor to the United States Congress. He served almost five years as the executive director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a nonpartisan agency charged with making recommendations on Medicare policy issues to the Congress. Previously, he spent nine years at the Congressional Budget Office, lastly heading up the group charged with assessing the budgetary impact of legislative proposals affecting Medicare and Medicaid.

Dr. Ross earned his doctorate in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and completed his undergraduate work in economics at Arizona State University. He enjoys running, writing, and traveling.

Ann Richardson Berkey, Senior Vice President, Corporate Public Affairs, McKesson Corporation
Ann Richardson Berkey is Senior Vice President of Public Affairs for San Francisco-based McKesson Corporation, a Fortune 18 corporation and the world's largest supply management and healthcare information technology company.

Berkey is responsible for all corporate government relations activities and public policy strategy, and represents the company on various committees of their national and state trade associations. She is the former chair of the Public Affairs Council in Washington, D.C., and serves on the Council's Board of Directors. Berkey is also on the Advisory Board of the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the McKesson Foundation.

Prior to joining McKesson Corporation as director, Public Affairs in 1988, Berkey was president of Berkey Associates, Inc., a government relations consulting firm, for eight years. She has held public affairs positions with Shell Oil Company and worked in Washington for the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Secretary of the Interior. Berkey received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College.