LDI Health Policy Seminar with the Honorable Ben Sasse, PhD

Unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2007 as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Ben Sasse oversees policy and legislative development, research, strategic planning, economic analysis, and policy coordination for the Department, with a special focus on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the FDA. In the Office of Planning and Evaluation, he is responsible for 108 person staff and a $42 million research budget. In addition, he has served since 2006 as counselor for policy and strategic initiatives to HHS Secretary Michael O. Leavitt. He is on leave from a public policy professorship at the Lyndon B. Johnson School at The University of Texas at Austin. Previously, he was chief of staff to US Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (Nebraska) and US Assistant Attorney General Daniel Bryant. He began his career with the Boston Consulting Group. He was educated at Harvard, Oxford, and St. John’s (Annapolis) before receiving his PhD from Yale.