Subject: health working group conversation with Jeanne Lambrew
From: "Cassandra Butts" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], "Chris Lu" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 13:55:31 -0400

Edley and I spoke with Jeanne this morning to go over the names for the
health working group. She liked the addition of John Gruber but believes he
might be unwilling to participate because of his pledge not to get involved
in campaigns. If Gruber isn't available, Jeanne recommended Linda Blumberg
from the Urban Institute. Jeanne was less positive about Sarah Bianchi --
believes she is too limited to a campaign approach to policy development --
Charles Miller -- advocated for problematic state waivers for Medicaid --
and Robert Berenson -- good but narrowly focused on Medicare. Also, Jeanne
would like to add Jon Talisman from Capitol Tax Partners to the group for
his tax expertise.

John, there are two things that we need from you. First, your feedback on
adding Talisman. Is he a federal lobbyist? Does he bring enough to the table
to warrant adding him to the group or is he someone we can consult with as a
part of the process? Second, Jeanne is still uncertain as to whether Sen.
Daschle is committed to participating as a co-chair, and she believes it
would be helpful to have you reach out to him.

As it stands, we have the following possible participants in the working
group:

Tom Daschle co-chair
Jeanne Lambrew co-chair
Bo Cutter
Sarah Bianchi or Robert Berenson (Jeanne prefers Berenson while Edley likes
Bianchi)
John Gruber or Linda Blumberg
John Talisman