Paul Van De Water Named Vice President for Health Policy at National Academy of Social Insurance

For Immediate Release:  April 18, 2005
Contact:  Jill Braunstein at (202) 452-8097 or jillbraun@nasi.org

WASHINGTON, DC – The National Academy of Social Insurance announced today that economist Paul N. Van de Water is joining the staff as Vice President for Health Policy.

“Paul brings to NASI a lifetime of experience with social insurance and a commitment to sound and compassionate public policy,” said Henry Aaron, Chair of NASI’s Board of Directors and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution. “Every once in a while, one gets genuinely lucky. The day Paul accepted NASI’s offer was just such a day.”

As Vice President for Health Policy, Van de Water will oversee the Academy’s Medicare and health projects, including current study panels on Medicare and Racial and Ethnic Disparities, Medicare/Medicaid Dual Eligibles, and Long-Term Care. He will also lead the Academy’s other health policy activities, help set its future agenda in health policy research, and contribute to NASI’s cross-cutting policy research on health, aging, and retirement issues.

Van de Water, an economist and senior executive with more than 30 years of experience in the nonpartisan analysis of public policy, joins NASI from the Social Security Administration where he served as Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Policy. In this role, he managed Social Security’s 145-person Office of Policy and also served as Acting Deputy Commissioner from January 2001 to June 2003. Prior to that he was Associate Commissioner for Research, Evaluation and Statistics, where he directed the agency’s research and statistical programs and was responsible for evaluating the effects of major new initiatives and demonstration projects.

Before joining the staff of SSA, Van de Water was at the Congressional Budget Office where he last served as Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. In his 18 years at CBO, he supervised the preparation of budget projections, analyses of the President’s budget, cost estimates of legislative proposals, estimates of the costs of federal mandates on state and local governments, and analyses of the Clinton health care plan.

Van de Water replaces Kathleen King, who left the Academy after three years to become a director in the health care division of the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

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The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization made up of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance. Its mission is to promote understanding and informed policymaking on social insurance and related programs through research, public education, training, and the open exchange of ideas.