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Michael Hash

Senior Adviser, Health and Human Services Office of Health Reform (Since May 2009)

Why He Matters

Hash was one of the most important players in the 2009-2010 health-care debate.

As the liaison between the Health and Human Services office dedicated to health reform and the White House health-policy shop, he was charged with making sure the administration's pen was evident in the legislation that remade the American health-care system.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Chair of the Board, Providence Hospital (2008 to 2009); Principal, Health Policy Alternatives, (2001 to 2008); Deputy administrator; Health Care Financing Administration (1998 to 2001)
Alma Mater: Washington and Lee University, B.A.; Vanderbilt University

DC Office: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W.Washington, D.C. 20201(202) 619-0257
Web site

Path to Power

Hash earned a bachelor's degree from Washington and Lee University and did post-graduate work at Vanderbilt University.

In 1973, Hash went to work for the American Hospital Association, and by 1980 was deputy director of the group's Washington, D.C., office and oversaw the group's powerful lobbying operations.

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Health-Care Consulting

From 1985 until 1998, Hash was a principal consultant for Health Policy Alternatives, a private consulting group that advises clients on health-care legislation, regulation and policy-making. The group works for everyone from doctors' groups to insurance companies to corporations.

Hill Staffer

From 1990 until 1995, Hash worked on Capitol Hill as senior staff associate of the subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The subcommittee was chaired by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), and Hash worked with his chief of staff, Phil Schiliro. Waxman is now chair of the whole committee and Schiliro is chief of President Obama's legislative liaison office.

Hash specialized in Medicare legislation. He helped draft legislation on quality assurance, health-services research and the health-care workforce.

Clinton Health Reform

While working on Energy and Commerce, Hash was one of about 500 people that collaborated on President Clinton's 1993 health-care reform proposal. The Clinton administration was criticized for trying to hide the the names of the group's members, but after a firestorm of criticism ultimately released the list to the press.

Hash left the Hill in 1995 and returned to his consulting work.

Running Medicare

In 1998, President Clinton appointed Hash deputy administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the agency that ran the government-funded health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid. It is now called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and is part of the Health and Human Services Department.

During his time at HCFA, Hash advocated for prescription-drug coverage for Medicare recipients. He was in favor of streamlining Medicare policies to make the program more efficient, while at the same time protecting against fraud. He also believed simplifying Medicare and educating health providers about the programs would make more providers willing to participate in it.

When Clinton left office, Hash left HCFA and returned to his consulting at Health Policy Alternatives.

In 2008, Hash became chair of the board of Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Obama Administration

In May 2009, Hash was named to his position in Kathleen Sebelius' Health and Human Services Department.

Though he technically works under Jeanne Lambrew at the HHS Office of Health Reform, he was assigned out for an indefinite period to Nancy-Ann DeParle's White House policy shop.

The Issues

Hash has spent a career in health care, and he had the necessary experience to bring some key groups together to back Obama's health-reform plan. He's been a lobbyist, a consultant and a Hill staffer. In the Clinton administration, he was a senior staffer in the agency that ran Medicare and Medicaid, models on which a reform plan could be built.

Hash also has allies. In addition to working with health-care players in the private sector, he's collaborated with some of the lawmakers who shepherded 2010 reform to passage, including House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), and Phil Schiliro, a former Waxman senior aide who now runs the White House legislative affairs office.

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The Network

Hash worked on the House Energy and Commerce Health and Environment subcommittee from 1990 to 1995, when it was chaired by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.). Waxman's longtime chief of staff, Phil Schiliro, now runs Obama's legislative affairs office.

Though he technically works under Jeanne Lambrew at the HHS Office of Health Reform, he was assigned out for an indefinite period to Nancy-Ann DeParle's White House policy shop.

Campaign Contributions

Hash donated $500 to Obama-rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign in November 2007, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In 1994, he donated to the congressional campaign of Phil Schiliro.

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