Gail Wilensky

Gail Wilensky is a Senior Fellow at Project HOPE, an international health education foundation, where she analyzes and develops policies relating to health reform and to ongoing changes in the medical marketplace. Dr. Wilensky testifies frequently before Congressional committees, acts as an advisor to members of Congress and other elected officials, and speaks nationally and internationally before professional, business, and consumer groups. From 2001 to 2003, she co-chaired the President’s Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for Our Nation’s Veterans, which covered health care for both veterans and military retirees. From 1997 to 2001, she chaired the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on payment and other issues relating to Medicare, and from 1995 to 1997, she chaired the Physician Payment Review Commission. Previously, she served as Deputy Assistant to President (GHW) Bush for Policy Development, advising him on health and welfare issues. Prior to that, she was Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, overseeing the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Dr. Wilensky is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of The National Academies and its Governing Council; Vice Chair of the Maryland Health Care Commission; and serves as a trustee of the Combined Benefits Fund of the United Mineworkers of America, the American Heart Association, and on the Advisory Board of the National Institute of Health Care Management. She is an advisor to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund, immediate past chair of the Board of Directors of Academy Health and is a director on several corporate boards. Dr. Wilensky received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a PhD in economics at the University of Michigan.