Jay Angoff

Director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, Health and Human Services Services Department (since April 2010)

Why He Matters

In April 2010, after a year-long congressional fight, President Obama victoriously passed a sweeping overhaul of America's health-care system. Then, the president needed to find someone to actually implement it.

That person is Angoff. A class-action litigator who specialized in making big insurers pay out, he made his name as insurance commissioner of Missouri and now heads the office created to implement the big reforms smoothly and keep insurance companies honest.

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Corrections?

Background

At a Glance

Career History: Partner, Mehri & Skalet (2009 to 2010); Of counsel, Roger G. Brown and Associates (2001 to 2009); Director of Private Health Insurance, Health Care Financing Administration (1999 to 2000); Director, Missouri Insurance Department (1993 to 1998)

Alma Mater: Oberlin College, B.A., 1973; Vanderbilt Law School, J.D., 1978

Path to Power

After playing keyboards for the rock band The Brooklyn Bridge in his youth, Angoff attended Oberlin college

Angoff attended Vanderbilt University's law school, earning a J.D. in 1978.

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The Issues

Angoff oversees HHS's Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, created after President Obama passed sweeping health-reform legislation in March 2010.

The office was created to ensure the innovations, such as new health insurance exchanges, are implemented smoothly.

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Angoff oversees four offices:

The Office of Oversight enforces new rules for insurers.
The Office of Insurance Programs organizes the temporary high-risk pools that are necessary to bring people with preexisting conditions into the health-insurance system.
The Office of Consumer Support gathers data about insurance programs so HHS can explain the new law to patients.
The Office of Health Insurance exchanges sets up and runs new state exchanges

Malpractice Rates

In 2005, Angoff released a study that showed insurace companies were artificially inflating medical malpractice insurance premiums for doctors.

In a study sponsored by the Center for Justice & Democracy, Angoff showed that even though insurance companies were not paying out more for malpractice insurance claims, they were charging doctors higher premiums to carry malpractice insurance.

"The leading malpractice insurers' Annual Statements indicate that they have been raising their premiums," Angoff wrote, "even though both their actual claims payments and their projected future claims payments have been falling."

The cost of medical malpractice insurance has contributed to the skyrocketing cost of health care in recent years. Doctors' inflated fears of being sued may also contribute to "defensive medicine," meaning doctors feel they have to order extra, expensive tests just to ensure they won't be sued for malpractice later.

Prescience

Angoff hasn't always fought insurers. His desire to even the playing field is an equal opportunity one.

A 1982 case found him fighting to keep state-licensed officials, including doctors, from being exempt form antitrust rules.

''If doctors can fix prices and restrict advertising, there will not be any price competition in health care,'' The New York Times quoted a young Angoff as saying.

"Mr. Angoff predicts that the nation's $287 billion health-care bill last year would rise significantly," The Times reported in 1982.

Angoff's side won, and the bill did not pass. In 2008, the U.S. spent more than $2.3 trillion on health care.

The Network

At HHS, Angoff reports to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Deputy Secretary William V. Corr.

Campaign Contributions

Angoff has regularly donated to Democratic candidates including 2008 presidential candidate former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), unsuccessful Montana Senate candidate John Morrison (D), the late Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan (D) and his daughter Robin Carnahan, who is running for Senate in Missouri.

Additional Resources

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