Please join us for lunch on June 11th from 1:00-2:00pm for our upcoming Congressional Health Policy Education Program event in HC-8. Lunch will be provided.
Tax policy has a tremendous impact on the quality, affordability, and availability of health care services in the United States, and a new paper by Paragon’s Theo Merkel and Brian Blase reviews the significance and history of ten key health tax provisions, laying out a set of important principles to improve policy in this area and specific reforms. Currently, the tax code has provisions that create efficiencies in the health sector and others that lead to waste and significant overutilization of health care services. This event will review the consequences of policies including the expanded premium tax credit (PTC) and the exclusion of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums from federal taxes, and the benefits of proposals like greater support for health savings accounts (HSAs) and individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs).
The event will feature a discussion between Theo, Brian, and Alye Mlinar from Mehlman Consulting, a former staffer for Leader Steve Scalise Ways and the Committee on Ways and Means. Please feel free to share this invite with any health care staffer you think would be interested.
Theo Merkel is the Director of the Private Health Reform Initiative and a Senior Research Fellow for the Paragon Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Previously, Theo served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the National Economic Council in the White House (2019-2020). In addition to his work in the executive branch, Theo worked for his home state Senator Pat Toomey for a decade, most recently as Legislative Director.
Brian Blase, Ph.D., is the President of Paragon Health Insitute. Brian was Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC) from 2017-2019, where he coordinated the development and execution of numerous health policies and advised the President, NEC director, and senior officials.
Alyene “Alye” Senger Mlinar is a health policy expert with more than one dozen years of experience working in both the House and Senate and conservative think tanks in Washington.
Before joining Mehlman Consulting in late 2023, she served as a policy advisor to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), covering all health policy and tax issues. Alye also worked for Representative Scalise in the Office of the Minority Whip, analyzing legislation for members of Congress and staff before floor votes. Prior, Alye was a professional staff member of the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Health where she was the lead staffer responsible for health tax issues, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, and health system reforms. Before moving over to the House, Alye worked for the Senate Republican Policy Committee. She started her career in Washington, D.C. as a research assistant and policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation in the Center for Health Policy Studies.
