As President and Chief Executive Officer of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Karen Ignagni is the voice of health insurance plans, representing members that provide health and supplemental benefits to more than 200 million Americans.
Ms. Ignagni joined the organization as its Chief Executive in 1993. During her tenure as CEO, she has led two mergers with other organizations to form AHIP in 2003, making AHIP the leading voice for the health plan community in America.
Ms. Ignagni has won many accolades for her leadership, earning recognition by leading publications, including the New York Times, National Journal, The Hill, Time Magazine, The Washingtonian, Fortune Magazine, and Modern Healthcare, for her extensive health policy background and intrinsic feel for politics. The National Journal said she is “among the most respected and effective lobbyists in Washington,” and also named her as one of the top 25 most influential women in D.C. Ms. Ignagni is one of only eight individuals to be included in Modern Healthcare’s annual rankings of the “Most Influential People in Healthcare” for each year of its existence, a testament to her continued success and leadership in the industry.
Ms. Ignagni regularly testifies before Congress on key federal legislation. In recent years, she has appeared before Senate and House committees on matters ranging from health insurance reform to patient protection issues and access to health care coverage issues. She is a frequent contributor to the national health care dialogue, appearing in NBC Nightly News, ABC News, CBS Evening News, CNN, Fox Business, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, NPR, PBS, USA Today, New England Journal of Medicine, and Health Affairs.
Prior to 1993, Ms. Ignagni directed the AFL-CIO’s Department of Employee Benefits. In the 1980s, she was a Professional Staff Member on the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, preceded by work at the Committee for National Health Insurance and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.