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Background of FHCE
Click here to see a video introduction of the Foundation for Health Coverage Education.
Based in San Jose, California, the Foundation for Health Coverage Education’s (FHCE) efforts began in 2004 with Executive Director Phil Lebherz’ quest to understand the uninsured problem in California and beyond.
Industry research by reputable organizations such as the Congressional Budget Office, the California Health Care Foundation, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and other non-profits and think-tanks, all pointed to one key problem-many individuals are eligible for health coverage and are not signed up. To view copies of these reports, refer to “The Uninsured” section of this website.
When Phil learned that both professionals and consumers lacked user-friendly information about affordability and eligibility to public and private health coverage, he started the FHCE and immediately began developing educational tools, launching the first and most popular guide, the California Health Care Options Matrix™ Guide in mid-2003.
In 2004, the FHCE became a non-profit 501(c)3 public organization and continued developing other educational tools: the Finding Health Coverage in California™ consumer booklet (available in English and Spanish), the Health Coverage Eligibility Quiz™ and the toll-free US Uninsured Help Line™ (800-234-1317).
The FHCE's original mission was to focus on the uninsured population in California; however, news about the Matrix and Help Line traveled fast and many states began asking the FHCE for versions based on their state's options. In response to the demand, the FHCE developed a customized Matrix for every state in the nation and provided each state's organization of insurance professionals with a beginning supply. As of March 2006, all states had a Matrix and the call center had expanded live 24 hour 7 day a week Help Line service across the US.
As part of the strategy to quickly educate as many people as possible, the FHCE began working with professional organizations such as the California Association of Health Underwriters, the National Association of Health Underwriters, the California Social Workers Association, and others to enlist members' help with distribution/education for the uninsured.
The distribution and funding of the FHCE tools could not be possible without the generous donations from private individuals and corporations, other non-profits, and some of the nation’s most well-known insurance companies such as Anthem Blue Cross Foundation, WellPoint Foundation, Kaiser, Blue Shield and HealthNet.
Director Biography
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About Phil Lebherz, Executive DirectorPhil has been working in the field of health insurance benefits for nearly thirty years and is the founder and CEO of LISI, a premier California General Agency for group health insurance. Phil is passionate about making a difference in the U.S. health care system and is committed to helping educate consumers and professionals alike. In 2004, he established the Foundation for Health Coverage Education to simplify public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access health coverage. Phil’s expertise about health care, the uninsured, and group health trends make him a much sought-after speaker. Phil resides in the Bay Area peninsula with his wife and four children where he is an active member of his local school board and participates in many community projects. |
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About Ankeny Minoux, PresidentAnkeny Minoux is president of the Foundation for Health Coverage Education® (FHCE), a non-profit organization based in California. FHCE evolved in response to the growing number of uninsured people in the United States. The FHCE mission is to simplify public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access coverage. As president, Ankeny manages all the Foundation’s operations including FHCE’s call center and its most popular tool: the U.S. Uninsured Help Line. She also manages public relations, accounting, marketing, product design and development as well as the online presence. (www.coverageforall.org) Previous to her work at FHCE, Ankeny worked at KPMG, LLC in the Audit Group specializing in high tech companies in the San Francisco Bay area. |
Ankeny graduated from St. Mary’s College of California with a major in Accounting and a minor in Business. She resides with her husband in the Bay area and is active in community service including the Junior League of San Francisco. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. |
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Foundation Advisory Board
The Foundation welcomes new members to the Advisory Board: Alain Enthoven, David Helwig, Senator McClintock and Leonard Schaeffer
About Alain Enthoven
Professor Alain Enthoven is the Marriner S. Eccles Professor of Public and Private Management (Emeritus) in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He holds degrees in Economics from Stanford, Oxford and MIT. He has been an Economist with the RAND Corporation, Assistant Secretary of Defense, and President of Litton Medical Products. In 1963, he received the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service from John F. Kennedy. In 1977, while serving as a consultant to the Carter Administration, he designed and proposed Consumer Choice Health Plan, a plan for universal health insurance based on managed competition in the private sector. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is Chairman of Stanford University’s Committee on Faculty/Staff Human Resources and a consultant to Kaiser Permanente, the former Chairman of the Health Benefits Advisory Council for CalPERS, the California State employees' medical and hospital care plans. He has been a director of the Jackson Hole Group, PCS, Caresoft Inc., and eBenX, Inc. He was the 1994 winner of the Baxter Prize for Health Services Research and also the 1995 Board of Directors Award, Healthcare Financial Management Association. In 1997, Governor Wilson appointed him Chairman of the California Managed Health Care Improvement Task Force. Commissioned by the State legislature, the Task Force addressed healthcare issues raised by managed care. In 1988, he gave the De Vries Lectures in Rotterdam, called Theory and Practice of Managed Competition in Health Care Finance, which provided the theoretical foundation for the Dutch model of universal health insurance based on managed competition. In 1998-99, he was the Rock Carling Fellow of the Nuffield Trust of London and also Visiting Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He wrote the Rock Carling Lecture In Pursuit of an Improving National Health Service recommending further Introduction of market forces in the National Health Service. He and Laura Tollen recently edited a book called Toward a 21st Century Health System: The Contributions and Promise of Prepaid Group Practice (Jossey Bass, San Francisco, 2004). He is a member of the Research Advisory Board of the Committee for Economic Development (CED) and since 2006 served as project director for a recently published CED report Quality, Affordable Health Care for All: Moving Beyond the Employer-Based Health-Insurance System . November 2007
About David S. Helwig
David S. Helwig retired as President and CEO West Region for WellPoint, Inc. This included Blue Cross of California, and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Colorado and Nevada. When Anthem, Inc. merged with WellPoint Health Networks Inc. in November 2004 and was subsequently renamed WellPoint, Inc., Mr. Helwig was serving as chief executive officer and president of Blue Cross of California, the California operating subsidiary of WellPoint. In this role, he had responsibility for all Blue Cross of California's health and related businesses and operations including large group, small group and individual customer segments, rental networks, network development and contracting. During the 18 years of executive level experience at WellPoint and Blue Cross of CA, Mr. Helwig served as group president of WellPoint's Large Group Division, WellPoint senior vice president and chief actuary, senior vice president of Blue Cross of California's Individual and Small Group Division, senior vice president of consumer services for Blue Cross' CaliforniaCare Health Plans, chief financial officer and treasurer of Blue Cross of California as well as Blue Cross senior vice president and chief actuary. Mr. Helwig began his tenure in April 1988 as vice president and chief actuary for Blue Cross of California. Prior to joining Blue Cross of CA, Mr. Helwig served as chief actuary at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia. He also held actuarial positions at Integon Life Insurance Company in North Carolina and Mutual of Omaha in Nebraska. Mr. Helwig's professional affiliations included being a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries since 1985 and membership in the American Academy of Actuaries since 1981. Educated in Illinois, Mr. Helwig earned a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from North Park University. Mr. Helwig currently serves on the Boards of Mission Springs Conference Center in Scotts Valley, CA, Ventura County Boy Scouts, Covenant Youth of Alaska in Wasilla, AK, the advisory board of Alaska Christian College in Soldotna, AK and served 10 years on the Board of Trustees of North Park University in Chicago, IL.
About Leonard Schaeffer
Mr. Leonard D. Schaeffer is Chairman of the Board of Surgical Care Affiliates and a Senior Adviser to TPG Capital, a private equity firm. He is the Judge Robert Widney Chair and Professor at the University of Southern California. Mr. Schaeffer served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of WellPoint, Inc., an insurance organization created by the combination of WellPoint Health Networks, Inc. and Anthem, Inc., from November 2004 until his retirement in November 2005. From 1992 until November 2004, Mr. Schaeffer served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of WellPoint Health Networks, Inc. Mr. Schaeffer was the Administrator of the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration, now CMS, from 1978 to 1980. Mr. Schaeffer is a member of the Board of Directors of Amgen, Inc., Allergan, Inc., and Quintiles Transnational Corp. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institution, Board of Fellows at Harvard Medical School, the Advisory Boards of the National Institute for Health Care Management and RAND Health, and is a member of the Institute of Medicine.
About The Anthem Blue Cross Foundation
The Anthem Blue Cross Foundation is a private, non-profit organization wholly funded by WellPoint, Inc. Through charitable contributions and programs, the Foundation promotes WellPoint's inherent commitment to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that WellPoint serves. The Anthem Blue Cross Foundation, and its affiliated foundations across 14 states, focus on initiatives that improve accessibility and affordability of health care, improve quality of care, support the development of health-related public policy, and help establish best practices in medicine. Through almost $1 million in grants provided over the past two years to FHCE, the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation fueled the launch of the Uninsured Call Center, the Uninsured Matrix and other outreach programs and education materials aimed at the uninsured.
Annual Report
FHCE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The December, 31 year-end annual report provides a description of the significant milestones achieved throughout the year, the current position of FHCE at year end and the foundation’s plan for the upcoming year.
FHCE Statistics
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991,088 people have visited this Web site since the months of January 2007 through June 2009.
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51,890 people have called the U.S. Uninsured Help Line™ since the inception of the call center in February 2005 through June 2009.
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1,618,311,767 media impressions by way of the radio and television public service announcements, newspapers and magazine articles since the launch of the "Coverage For All" campaign in January 2005 through March 2009.
| * | Please note: Due to the number of public programs being created and/or changed, tools may not include all plans. The tools and services on this website should be used as a starting point for general information. Seek professional advice about specific plans and programs from representatives of those organizations. |