BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The IWU political science department invited alumna Amy Tenhouse ‘97 to campus as the guest speaker for the Gebhardt Family Endowed Speaker Series. The event was held on Feb. 4 in the Memorial Center’s Turfler Room.
Tenhouse, the vice president of federal affairs at Molina Healthcare, shared her experience and expertise in the lobbying industry with a group of students and faculty over lunch. Molina, a national healthcare management firm, is one of several companies contracted by the state of Illinois to provide insurance and related services for Medicaid recipients, with Tenhouse helping to maintain those and other government relationships.
A key theme of her talk was the unique challenge of persuading lawmakers who spend every day fielding countless complex interests.
“We have to spend a tremendous amount of time making sure people understand what Medicaid really is,” Tenhouse said. “The thing to keep in mind is that they have other interests that they are just as or more involved in,” referencing lawmakers’ unexpected preoccupation with horse slaughtering policy when Tenhouse first became a lobbyist.
“Lobbyists play an important role because we provide expertise in subjects that legislators just can’t know everything about,” Tenhouse said. “And we have to be credible. I can’t just say this is the way it is because this is what my organization thinks. I have to account for both sides and make a good argument."
Questions from the audience steered the talk toward healthcare policy, particularly costs incurred by patients, states and insurers.
“A reason a lot of states move to managed care is because there is budget predictability – states get to set a certain amount that they pay,” Tenhouse said. “We’re rate takers, not rate makers. We’re given a set amount of money and we have to work within it.”
Acute areas of interest included efficiency and access, asking how it might be possible to reduce costs and simplify processes for patients, especially those who are typically underserved. Tenhouse saw the adoption of technology as a key opportunity in these areas, especially in making it easier for people to navigate the bureaucracy of Medicaid.