California Health Benefit Exchange Announces Senior Leadership Appointment: Gary M. Cohen

Gary M. Cohen, General Counsel

SACRAMENTO – Executive Director Peter V. Lee announced today the appointment of Gary M. Cohen as Chief Counsel by the California Health Benefit Exchange Board. "We are excited to have found an attorney of Mr. Cohen’s caliber to join the executive management team,” said Lee. “His in-depth understanding of health care policy at the national and state levels will bring important insights to the work ahead of us.”

As the General Counsel, Cohen will serve as the chief legal advisor, providing the Executive Director, board and senior staff policy guidance and legal counsel on matters pertaining to the Exchange, its programs and operations.“I look forward to the opportunity to help implement the largest Exchange in the nation,” said Cohen. “I am happy to be coming back to California to help launch one of the main building blocks of reforming our health care system and making affordable coverage available to millions of Californians.”

Cohen was most recently Director of the Oversight Group for the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) within the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. As Oversight Group Director, he was responsible for implementation, compliance and enforcement of the market rules, medical loss ratio, and rate review provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Among his previous positions, Cohen served as Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel for the California Department of Insurance and the General Counsel of the California Public Utilities Commission. Cohen holds a law degree from Stanford University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University. The salary of this position is $195,000.

About the Exchange

California was the first state to create a Health Benefit Exchange following the passage of federal health care reform. It is charged with creating a new insurance marketplace in which individuals and small businesses will be able to purchase competitively priced health plans using federal tax subsidies and credits beginning in 2014. The Exchange is overseen by a five-member board appointed by the Governor and Legislature; the California Health and Human Services Secretary serves as an ex officio voting member and is its current Chair.

For more information on the Exchange including meeting calendar, visit www.HealthExchange.ca.gov.

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