Chip Kahn is one of Washington’s most experienced and influential health policy leaders, known for his deep understanding of how health care policy is made — and how it actually works across government, insurance, and hospital systems.
Over a career spanning more than four decades, Chip has operated at the center of American health policy: on Capitol Hill, in senior executive roles, and through public-private partnerships shaping national payment, quality, and coverage policy. From 2001 to 2025, he served as President and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH), leading one of the nation’s most influential hospital advocacy organizations and helping shape federal policy on Medicare and Medicaid payment, quality measurement, patient safety, and access to care.
Earlier in his career, Chip was President and CEO of the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA), giving him a rare, dual-sector perspective on how policy affects both coverage and care delivery. In 1993 and 1994, he was also responsible at HIAA for the precedent setting “Harry and Louise” public affairs campaign. And he spent many years on Capitol Hill in the House and Senate, including as Staff Director of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, where he played a central role in writing landmark legislation such as HIPAA and the Medicare provisions of the Balanced Budget Act.
In 2026, Chip transitioned from organizational leadership to policy scholarship and public engagement. He is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Senior Visiting Fellow at KFF—where he hosts the podcast KFF’s Business of Health Care with Chip Kahn—and a Nonresident Senior Scholar at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. He is also helping launch a new health policy institute at Tulane University focused on improving health care and outcomes in the American South. In addition, he serves as Co-Chair of the international Future of Health collaborative, bringing together global health system leaders to address the most pressing challenges facing health care.
Chip is the only health care leader to have appeared on Modern Healthcare’s annual “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” list every year since its inception. A clear, candid, and engaging speaker, he is widely sought after for his ability to cut through complexity, explain what’s really happening in health policy, and offer informed perspectives on where the system is headed next.