Dive Brief:
- America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) announced Wednesday that CEO Marilyn Tavenner will retire, effective June 1. The group's board of directors voted unanimously Tuesday to appoint current Chief Operating Officer Matt Eyles to the top role.
- Tavenner, who previously served as CMS administrator under former President Barack Obama, was hired by AHIP in 2015.
- She oversaw the powerful lobbying group during a rocky period, as Republicans sought to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and three major insurers dropped their AHIP membership: UnitedHealth Group, Aetna and Humana.
Dive Insight:
Before coming to AHIP, Eyles worked at Avalere Health as an executive VP. Before that, he served as corporate vice president of public affairs & policy at Coventry Health Care, which is now owned by Aetna, and in a similar role for Wyeth, which is now owned by Pfizer.
“Matt is one of the most experienced leaders in Washington,” Tavenner said in a statement. “We have partnered together on real solutions that allow health insurance providers to better serve the millions of Americans they work for every day. We worked closely with the Board to plan an effective transition to ensure that under Matt’s leadership, AHIP will continue to be the industry leader for years to come.”
Tavenner's retirement comes as debate rages over proposals to restore cost-sharing reduction payments or create a reinsurance program in the wake of the elimination of the individual mandate penalty in tax legislation late last year. Also, vertical and horizontal consolidation across the healthcare sector has led to merger attempts involving insurers, payers and pharmacy benefit managers.
Cigna announced last week that it would be attempting to acquire Express Scripts in a $67 billion deal, and CVS Health is trying to merge with Aetna in a $69 billion deal.