An Oklahoma insurance professional and former lawmaker will serve on the new committee formed by President-Elect Donald Trump to evaluate change to the nation’s health care system.
Wayne Pettigrew, the owner of Vanguard Benefits Group was contacted by officials with the Trump transitional team on Wednesday. The committee’s first meetings are to begin as early as next week.
Trump has vowed to “Repeal and Replace Obamacare” which is the nation’s law that requires individuals to purchase health care insurance coverage or face tax penalties. The law also has penalties for companies with over 50 employees that fail to offer compliant health insurance coverage.
Pettigrew said that he was honored to be asked to serve on the committee but expects the meetings to be intense. “I’m looking forward to serving but there is a lot of work to be done and a lot to evaluate and not much time before Congress goes back in session in January”, said Pettigrew. The meetings will be held in Washington DC.
Pettigrew is the immediate past president of the Oklahoma Association of Health Underwriters and has had experience in designing health insurance plans for over 30 years.
Pettigrew served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1994 to 2004 and was the author of the state’s Insure Oklahoma law that uses federal matching funds to leverage employer and employee dollars to provide health insurance to lower income employees and individuals. He was a Republican candidate for US Congress in 2012.
