Alain C. Enthoven

Professor Alain Enthoven "has published widely in the fields of the economics, organization, management and public policy of health care in the U.S.A. and U.K. In his research, he studies the causes of unsustainable growth in national health expenditures and the costs of health insurance, and possible strategies for moderating this growth while improving quality of care. His recent work is focused on the failings of employment-based health insurance and on proposals for market-based universal health insurance in the U.S.A. "Professor Enthoven holds degrees in Economics from Stanford, Oxford, and MIT. He began his teaching career in 1955 while an Instructor in Economics at MIT. In 1956, he moved to the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica and participated in continuing studies on U.S. and NATO defense strategies. In 1960, he moved to the Department of Defense, where he held several positions leading to appointment, by President Johnson, to the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis in 1965. His work there is described in the book How Much is Enough? coauthored with K. Wayne Smith and published by the RAND Corporation. In 1963, he received the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service from John F.Kennedy. In 1969, he became vice president for Economic Planning for Litton Industries, and in 1971 he became president of Litton Medical Products. In 1972, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and served on its governing Council. He joined the Stanford Faculty in 1973, and began teaching Business Policy and, later, Microeconomics. In 1977, while serving as a consultant to the administration of President Carter, he designed and proposed Consumer Choice Health Plan, a plan for universal health insurance based on managed competition in the private sector. Since 1980, his teaching has been focused on health care.

"Professor Enthoven is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is Chairman of Stanford's Committee on Faculty/Staff Human Resources. He has been a consultant to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program since 1973. He has served as Chariman 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 is a member of the research advisory board of the Committee for Economic Development. He was the 1994 winner of the Baxter Prize for Health Services Research and the 1995 winner of the Board of Directors Award of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

"In 1997, Governor Wilson appointed him Chairman of the California Managed Health Care Improvement Task Force.“


 * Advisory Board, Common Good
 * Leader of the Whiz Kids, a team that advised Robert McNamara on the conduct of the Vietnam War