Published: 12:05 AM 02/18/2010
William Pierce, senior vice president of APCO Worldwide, joined in 2005. Mr. Pierce specializes in providing strategic advice and counsel, tactical execution and representation to a wide range of clients facing challenging circumstances as well as great opportunity. He helps clients develop strategies and tactics that combine media relations, policy, advocacy and alliances in campaigns to achieve definable objectives. Areas of expertise include health care reform, policy development, the FDA regulatory process, Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP policy, public health, Bio-terrorism, the CDC and NIH. His work includes media relations, policy development, issues advocacy, message development, coalition and third party development and management and crisis communications.
Previous to joining APCO Worldwide, Bill served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) beginning in 2001. At HHS Bill had the unique opportunity to be at the forefront of some of the country’s most challenging and unexpected health policy and public health debates. Beginning with President Bush’s 2001 announcement regarding a new stem cell policy, the 9/11 and anthrax attacks, through the Medicare debate, passage and implementation, to the flu shortage and the debate over Medicaid reform, Bill stood at the frontlines as the spokesman for HHS and one of HHS’ key public affairs advisors.
Pierce received his appointment to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA) as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in June 2001 after serving for four and one-half years with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) as Director, Public Affairs. Previous to working at BCBSA he served three and one half years as the Press Secretary for Congressman Bill Thomas (R-CA). Prior to joining Rep. Thomas’ staff, Pierce was Press Secretary for then Rep. (now Senator) Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Before working on the Hill, Bill was Director of Communications for the National Taxpayers Union, an Account Executive for Hill & Knowlton and a Research Associate with Government Research Corporation. He began his career in Washington as a Research Analyst for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
At HHS, Bill was responsible for managing the press, speechwriting and Freedom of Information Offices. His duties included helping to develop strategic and tactical media strategies and messages. He was a spokesman for HHS and HHS Secretaries Tommy G. Thompson and Michael O. Leavitt. Bill was the ASPA liaison with several key HHS agencies including CMS, FDA, NIH, and CDC. He was also the ASPA representative on the Secretary’s Privacy Council, HIPAA Council, Global Health Policy Core Group and other ad hoc policy committees within the Office of the Secretary. Bill has been an official member of several US delegations to World Health Organization meetings and taken part in international trips including a 5-nation visit to Africa. Bill also was public affairs representative on two Better Benefits Tours in the summer of 2002 and 2003, four city tours promoting the need for better benefits in Medicare that included then FDA Commissioner Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., Surgeon General Richard Carmona, M.D., CDC Director, Julie Gerberding, M.D. and NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D. During 2004, Bill acted as the temporary Director of the Public Affairs Office at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
At BCBSA, Bill was responsible for developing and implementing the Association’s strategic public affairs campaign for all advocacy and policy efforts. This included issue advocacy advertising campaigns, public opinion surveys and message development. Bill was the spokesman for the Washington office of BCBSA as well as a spokesperson for the entire Association.
In Rep. Thomas’ office, Pierce was his chief spokesman and press contact for Thomas in his role as Chairman of the Health Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee and Chairman of the House Oversight Committee. In Rep. Snowe’s office Bill was also the speechwriter.
Since 1988 Bill has attended all Republican national nominating conventions acting in various capacities. In 2008, Bill volunteered in the convention communications operations, in 2000 attended in his capacity as Director of Public Affairs for BCBSA. He has staffed Members of Congress in 1992 and 1996, worked with the National Young Republicans in 1996 and volunteered with the 1988 George Bush for President campaign. Bill has contributed chapters to the books, Communication in a Healthcare Crisis and Risky Business? PAC Decision-making in Congressional Elections.
Previous to coming to Capitol Hill Bill worked in the private sector focusing on legislative and political analysis developing experience in budget, tax, energy and defense policy as well as conducting political research.
Bill earned his Bachelors of Arts degree in Political Science and English and a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1998, he also earned the designation of Professional from the Academy for Healthcare Management. In 2000, Bill became a founding member of the George Mason University Mercatus Center’s Advisory Council for Capitol Hill Programs – a center providing educational programming on a wide
variety of issues to Capitol Hill staff and Members of Congress. Bill has been a volunteer mentor with the Hoop Dreams Foundation; a mentoring program for college-bound Washington, D.C., inner-city students.
With President Obama’s invitation to join him and Democratic leaders at a White House health care summit on Feb. 25, Republicans have the opportunity to engage in a competition of ideas on health care reform.
Will the GOP grab this chance or will they resort to tired old ideas and rhetoric? If they grab the opportunity they can distinguish themselves from President Obama and Democrats on health care. If they engage in the same old political debate, Democrats will continue to hold the high ground with the public.
What would distinguish Republicans? What health care ideas would transform our system, address the challenges facing us and lead us into the 21st century?
Recently I had the opportunity to poise those questions to some top Republican health care thinkers: former Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Mark McClellan, former CMS administrator Tom Scully and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. The ideas they shared had similar elements, common themes and similar objectives.
Of this there is no doubt: Our health care system must be fixed. It has run its course and no longer serves Americans well.
If you have employer-based insurance, you can still get good health insurance, but it is getting more costly. If you work for a small employer, your odds of getting insurance are diminishing, and the price is skyrocketing. It you are self-employed or otherwise have to purchase insurance in the individual market, it’s a crap shoot as to whether you can afford it, and what you can buy is variable and not up to par with large group insurance. Even seniors are in a bind. While the Medicare Advantage program was designed to take Medicare into the 21st century, Democrats seem determined to dismantle it and return the program to the 19th century world of fee-for-service, which is the most expensive, inefficient, low-quality health care delivery system that exists. Medicaid is the worst of all government programs. And of course we all know about the uninsured and their high and rising numbers. They have no options.
One thing is clear; our health care system has enough money in it. We don’t need to spend more money. We also have the best quality health care in the world.
What a reform plan must do then is spend the money more efficiently and provide quality care more evenly throughout the country. If we do this we can have universal coverage that provides high quality health care for all.
What are the elements of such a plan?
- Decouple health insurance from employers: As is well known, employer based health insurance is an anomaly from the WWII-era wage and price freeze. The government did not make a conscious choice to incentivize employers to provide health insurance. It just happened. As a result it can unhappen. Employers would provide their employees higher wages reflecting the cost of what they paid for their employees health insurance. To ease the transition, do it over 5-10 years.
- Create a standard benefit: It can’t be a specific benefit. If we allow this to happen it will be loaded up like a Christmas tree. Instead create an actuarial standard benefit for individuals and families. This way, insurers could provide a variety of plans that would reflect different needs including HSAs and MSAs. As innovation advances the standard benefit would reflect these advances.
- Create tax credits and deductions: For persons with lower incomes provide a credit, for higher-income earners provide a deduction to cover the cost of the standard benefit. The funding would come from increased income taxes collected as wages increase as the employer tax deductibility is phased out. If individuals wanted to pay for more health care or an enhanced benefit they could, but it wouldn’t be deductible nor would the credit cover it. This would give, as the saying goes, people some “skin in the game.” Instead of first-dollar third-party coverage, this would create price and cost sensitivity.
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