Galen Institute
 |
|
| Formation | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Type | Public policy think tank |
| Location | |
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President
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Grace-Marie Turner |
|
Revenue (2015)
|
$1,062,904 |
| Expenses (2015) | $830,763 |
| Website | www.galen.org |
The Galen Institute is a non-profit public policy research organization based in Alexandria, Virginia. Founded in 1995 by Grace-Marie Turner, the Galen Institute's stated mission is "advancing free-market ideas in health policy, promoting a more informed public debate over ideas that support innovation, individual freedom, consumer choice, and competition in the health sector". The Institute's funding has primarily come from individual, foundation, and corporate contributions and grants.
The Galen Institute was founded by Grace-Marie Turner in 1995 as a response to attempts to reform the United States's health care system in 1993. Their first conference was held a year later, in 1996 on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., and was titled A Fresh Approach to Health Care Reform. The papers presented at the conference were later published into a peer-reviewed volume, titled Empowering Health Care Consumers through Tax Reform. While this opposition was the initial focus of the organization, by the late 1990s Galen focused less on critiquing specific health reform initiatives, and more on advocating against the increasing role of the federal government in the American health sector, proposing changes to existing government proposals, and working to inform the public about the health reform debate.
The Galen Institute receives its funding from donations and grants from corporations, foundations, and individuals both inside and outside the pharmaceutical and medical industries.
The Galen Institute is named after Galen, the second century Greek physician who, along with Hippocrates, was one of the first and most influential health figures in the ancient world.
The Galen Institute's logo is also symbolic, representing what the Galen Institute describes as a fundamental problem in the American health sector: a lack of coverage among the middle class. The blue graph in the logo shows the number of Americans who have health insurance coverage; the poorest Americans (on the left side of the graph) are covered through government subsidies and programs such as Medicaid and SCHIP. The wealthiest Americans (on the right side of the graph) are covered through their employers. The group making an average of $30,000 in annual income (the gap in the middle) makes too much to qualify for federal assistance, but too little to have employer-based insurance.
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