Karen Ignagni

Background

Ignagni grew up in Providence, where her father was a fireman and mother worked at the city hall, her brother Robert currently resides in South Windsor, Connecticut.

Education

She graduated from the Providence College, where she majored in political science, and from Loyola College Executive Master of Business Administration program

Career

She is often mentioned as one of the most effective lobbyists and the most powerful people in healthcare. She is involved in health care reform in the United States, working to benefit health insurance companies. Ignagni led the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) from 1993 until 2003 when it merged with the Health Insurance Association of America.

Before joining AAHP, she was a director of the American Federation of Labor-Congress-Chief Information Officer"s Department of Employee Benefits.

Previously she worked in the United States. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, the United States. Department of Health and Human Services, and as a staffer for Senator Claiborne Pell. Ignagni wrote articles on health care policy issues in The New York Times, United States of America Today, the New York Daily News, and New England Journal of Medicine, among others

Recognition

Karen Ignagni received the Second Century Award for Excellence in Health Care. George Magazine listed her among 50 Most Powerful People in Politics.

The New York Times wrote in 1999 that "in a city teeming with health care lobbyists, Mississippi

Ignagni is widely considered one of the most effective. She blends a detailed knowledge of health policy with an intuitive feel for politics." The Hill newspaper included Karen Ignagni among Washington"s most effective lobbyists in 2004. In June 2009, Ignagni addressed President Barack Obama: "You have our commitment to play, to contribute and to help pass health care reform this year".

In October 2009, AHIP issued a report projecting sharply rising costs with or without reform.

The study was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers. As described by Ignagni, "The report makes clear that several major provisions in the current legislative proposal will cause healthcare costs to increase far faster and higher than they would under the current system".

Achievements

• She is also an occasional object of derision, such as when Health Care for America Now group awarded Ignagni a "protector of profits" award.

Views

Ignagni defended the report on Public Broadcasting Service Newshour against the accusation by Nancy-Ann DeParle, the director of the White House Office of Health Reform, that the "industry puts their special interest ahead of the national interests here".

Connections

Partner:

Bryce Harlow