RON POLLACK

Ron Pollack is the founding executive director of Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers. Families USA’s mission is to achieve high-quality, affordable health coverage for everyone in the United States.

In 1997-1998, Pollack was appointed the sole consumer organizational representative on the Presidential Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. In that capacity, Pollack helped prepare the Patients’ Bill of Rights that has passed in many state legislatures and that is also pending in the Congress.

Pollack is also the founder and chair of the Health Assistance Partnership, an entity that works with health care ombudsman programs across the country to help consumers navigate the increasingly complex U.S. health care system.

Families USA, which Pollack directs, has prepared numerous reports and analyses on health care generally, and, in particular, on health coverage for uninsured and underinsured families, public health programs (such as Medicaid and Medicare), prescription drug issues, HMO-related consumer protections, and long-term care. Those reports and analyses are frequently cited at Congressional hearings, in state legislatures, by the media, and by consumer organizations that Families USA works with all across the country.

Mr. Pollack is a frequent guest on a variety of television and radio programs, such as "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer", NBC’s "Today Show", ABC’s "Good Morning America" and "Nightline," CNN’s "Larry King Live" and "Crossfire," NPR’s "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition", and many others, and he is often quoted in such leading newspapers as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Los Angeles Times.

Prior to his current position at Families USA, Pollack was Dean of the Antioch University School of Law. He was also the founding executive director of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), a leading national organization focused on the elimination of hunger in the United States. In that capacity, Pollack brought litigation that resulted in the creation of the so-called “WIC” Program for malnourished mothers and infants, and he argued many cases in the federal courts – including two successful cases argued on the same day in the U.S. Supreme Court – to improve food aid for low-income Americans.