American Enterprise Institute president Christopher DeMuth announced today the appointment of Joseph R. Antos to the Wilson H. Taylor Chair in Health Care and Retirement Policy. The chair was established by the CIGNA Corporation in honor of Wilson H. Taylor, longtime chairman and chief executive officer of CIGNA, on the occasion of his retirement from the firm in December 2000. Mr. Taylor has been a member of the AEI Board of Trustees since 1989 and served as board chairman from 1994 through 1998.
"AEI is immensely fortunate to have earned the confidence of the CIGNA Corporation and Bill Taylor in the form of their generous gifts to expand AEI's work on health care and retirement policy," Mr. DeMuth commented as he announced the appointment. "America is in the midst of momentous changes and exhilarating progress in the medical sciences, the management and delivery of health care, and the financing of our increasingly long and healthy retirement years. Just as CIGNA and Bill Taylor have been private-sector leaders in improving health care delivery and retirement financing, so Joseph Antos has been a leading analyst and proponent of improved government policies in both fields. As Joe's recent, influential work on Medicare reform suggests, he will be an important force for more informed policy debate and more intelligent and productive policies--those that bolster the strengths of private markets and lead to better health care, retirement security, and financial well-being for all Americans." A biographical sketch of Joseph Antos is attached.
CIGNA Corporation, with headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is one of the leading providers of employee benefits in the United States. CIGNA subsidiaries' products and services include managed and indemnity health care coverage; group, life, accident, and disability insurance; retirement services; and investment management. CIGNA also offers life, accident, and health insurance in selected international markets.
Wilson H. Taylor was chairman and chief executive officer of the CIGNA Corporation from 1989 through 2000. He joined Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, a CIGNA predecessor company, shortly after his graduation from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1964. When Connecticut General merged with the Insurance Company of North America in 1982 to form CIGNA, he was named executive vice president and chief financial officer of the new corporation. In 1988 he was named president and chief executive officer, becoming the youngest CEO of a major U.S. insurance company at that time. He is a trustee of Philadelphia's Regional Performing Arts Center and a former trustee of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Biographical Sketch of Joseph R. Antos
Joseph R. Antos joined the American Enterprise Institute in October 2001 following a distinguished career in government service that included senior positions in both the executive branch and the Congress. From 1995 until his appointment at the American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Antos was assistant director for health and human resources of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), where he directed the CBO's analyses of health, retirement, welfare, labor market, and education policies. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he worked on employment, unemployment, wage structure, and job training policies at the Department of Labor. This work led to his Office of Management and Budget studies of federal policies for low-income people. As senior staff economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1985 to 1986, Mr. Antos helped shape the administration's policies on physician payment and on the role of managed care in Medicare. In 1986 and 1987, he was principal deputy assistant secretary for management and budget at the Department of Health and Human Services, and later deputy chief of staff. His major focus was the development of the secretary's report on Medicare coverage for catastrophic expenses. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. Antos was director of the Office of Research and Demonstrations in the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) where he supervised research on the payment and delivery of services by Medicare and Medicaid.
In addition to his work on domestic health issues, Mr. Antos has advised the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and several foreign countries on health reforms and the implementation of new financing systems.
Mr. Antos received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Cornell University in 1968 and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Rochester in 1974. His publications include:
- "What Congress Should Do About Prescription Drugs for Seniors," AEI On the Issues, September 2002 (with Grace-Marie Turner)
- "Medicare Financing and Prescription Drugs," Testimony before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, May 2002
- "Medicare Reform: Obstacles and Options," American Economic Review, May 1999 (with Linda Bilheimer)
- "The Bumpy Road to Medicare Reform" in Medicare in the 21st Century: Seeking Fair and Efficient Reform, American Enterprise Institute, 1999 (with Linda Bilheimer)
- "Financing Medicare: Preparing for the Retirement of the Baby Boomers," in Medicare: Preparing for the Challenges of the 21st Century, National Academy of Social Insurance, 1998
He is married to Lois S. Antos, and they have two children.
