Ronald E. Bachman is president and CEO of Healthcare Visions, a thought leadership firm dedicated to advancing ideas and policy initiatives that are transforming the U.S. healthcare market. The major goals of Healthcare Visions are to advance consumer-based solutions to lower the number of uninsured, improve mental health coverages, develop the concept of consumer-centric Medicare and Medicaid, and advance employer introductions of healthcare consumerism.
Mr. Bachman is also a Senior Fellow of the Center for Health Transformation (CHT), a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), and a Senior Fellow at the Wye River Group on Health (WRGH).
Mr. Bachman is an actuary with extensive experience in healthcare strategy for payers, providers and employers. Ron is a retired partner from PricewaterhouseCoopers where he consulted to a broad range of clients including: employers, HMOs, hospitals, physicians, indemnity carriers, BlueCross BlueShield plans, as well as State and Federal Agency clients.
In recent years, Ron has focused on the market evolution of patient-centered consumer-directed health plans. For several years, Ron worked on special projects with the CHT and Speaker Gingrich on health policy issues and market transformation ideas. Ron worked closely with the Bush White House and Treasury on the language and principles of the 2002 Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) guidelines. In 2003 and 2004, Ron worked through the CHT to provide policy input on Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Ron has consulted with various government agencies on national health issues and legislative and regulatory proposals. He has served as a designated expert on actuarial issues to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Congressional Budget Office, the Department of Labor, the National Institute of Mental Health, and several members of Congress.
Mr. Bachman is a expert resource on mental health policy to several members of Congress, including Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Pete Dominici. He has testified in over 25 states on the costs of mental health. He produced several financial studies and analyses of national and state proposals for mental health parity. Ron is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries Mental Health Parity Work Group that produced the 2005 report entitled, “Mental Health Parity: Often Separate, Usually Unequal.” He is on the Board of Directors of the National Mental Health Association of Georgia.
Mr. Bachman is the author of several publications, including “Consumer-Driven Healthcare – The Future in Now”, “Giving Patients More Control” published by the National Center for Policy Analysis. He has written numerous articles such as, “Boomers Will Revise an Aged, Ineffective System” and “Consumer-centric Medicare” both articles coauthored with Newt Gingrich, founder of the Center for Health Transformation. As an advisor to the Wye River Group on Health (WRGH), Mr. Bachman was instrumental in two seminal reports entitled “An Employer’s Guide to Patient-Directed Healthcare Benefits” and “An Employer’s Guide to Pharmaceutical Benefits.”
Mr. Bachman is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He obtained a Masters in Actuarial Science from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
