CHRISTOPHER C. JENNINGS
Deputy Assistant To The President For Health Policy Development
Christopher Jennings has served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Health Policy Development in the White House Domestic Policy Council since January, 1997. In this position, Mr. Jennings develops and coordinates the Administration’s health care policy, working closely with the President’s National Economic Council and many Federal agencies, including the Office of Management and Budget and the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury. Mr. Jennings is responsible for a wide variety of health issues, which range from Medicare to Medicaid, long-term care, patient protections, insurance reforms, coverage expansions, and quality assurance. Mr. Jennings also serves as a key liaison to the U.S. Congress and he has been most notably recognized for his leadership in the development and passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the Work Incentives Improvement Act, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Mr. Jennings has led the development of key Administration initiatives on health care, including Medicare reform and the development of a voluntary prescription drug benefit, and proposals to provide health insurance coverage to an additional 5 million uninsured Americans; a real Patients’ Bill of Rights; and a long-term care tax credit for Americans with long-term care needs and their caregivers.
Mr. Jennings joined the White House in 1994 as the Special Assistant to the President for Health Policy. In this role, Mr. Jennings focused particularly on health insurance reform and quality assurance, and was primarily responsible for the establishment of the President’s Advisory Commission on Quality and Consumer Protection.
Prior to his White House appointment, Mr. Jennings was the Senior Legislative Health Reform Advisor to the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). Before joining the Administration, he worked on Capitol Hill for almost ten years. Mr. Jennings served as Committee staff for United States Senators Glenn, Melcher, and Pryor (D-AR) and served as Deputy Staff Director of the Senate Aging Committee for Chairman Pryor. In this capacity, he staffed the Senator before the Bipartisan Commission on Comprehensive Health Care (the Pepper Commission), and coordinated Senator Pryor’s legislative initiatives on prescription drug coverage and cost containment, long-term care, insurance market reform, rural health issues, and the special needs of small businesses.
Christopher C. Jennings
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