CHIBE Q&A with Megan Hauck Marshall

Learn more about one of CHIBE’s newest external advisory board members Megan Hauck Marshall, founding partner of RED+BLUE Strategies, a leading bipartisan lobbying firm. Marshall has held key leadership positions in the White House, advising President George W. Bush on health, welfare, and budget issues, as well as at the Department of Health and Human Services.

What are you working on right now?

Working with clients to better understand the implications of the most recent reconciliation bill now that it has been signed into law. Legislating is only the first step in a longer process that involves regulatory guidance from the Administration that will be crucial to navigating these changes. 

You are the founding partner of RED+BLUE Strategies, a leading bipartisan lobbying firm. What advice would you have for CHIBE researchers who seek to work with policymakers across both aisles?

Members of Congress and their staff are eager to see data and research in connection with new ideas. More often than not, new policy is based on policy that worked somewhere else – in the states, in the private sector market, in a pilot program somewhere. 

The biggest value add for Congress is to have CHIBE researchers present tangible data on policy, programs, and ideas that can achieve the results they are looking for.

What do you think most health care leaders or researchers misunderstand about how Washington works?

Congress regularly passes bipartisan bills that are signed into law.  Frequently, media attention goes to the big, splashy bills or the most controversial ideas. The vast majority of members want to legislate. And change can be a slow, incremental process.  Working on federal policy rarely provides a quick fix, but sticking with evidence-based ideas can yield even better outcomes.