Andy Allison

Andy Allison, PhD, served as Arkansas’s Medicaid director from 2011 to 2014, helping to
establish the state’s innovative health care payment reforms and leading the design and
implementation of the “Private Option” coverage expansion. From 2005 to 2011, he oversaw Kansas’s Medicaid and State Employee Health Plans, assisting with the decision-making and planning process for KanCare, the state’s comprehensive Medicaid managed care
program. From 1999 to 2005, he was a researcher focusing on insurance coverage and
state health policy issues at the Kansas Health Institute. A health economist, Allison also
served as a Medicaid budget analyst at the federal Office of Management and Budget from
1992 to 1995, providing staff analysis of federal health reform legislation and reviewing
statewide section 1115 Medicaid waiver applications. He was the founding board president
for the National Association of Medicaid Directors and served in that position from 2010
through 2012. He has also worked as a consultant. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, a master’s degree in public policy from
Duke University, and a doctorate in economics from Vanderbilt University. The views in this
report are Andy Allison’s and are not intended to represent those of any of his employers. September 2015