THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO PRESERVE SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE
~ Celebrating 25 Years of Advocacy for Older Americans ~

May 16 , 2008

NEWS RELEASE

New Hires at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare is pleased to announce the addition of two staff to our Government Relations and Policy Department:

• Tom Leibfried, Legislative Representative.  As part of the NCPSSM healthcare team, Tom will advocate to strengthen Medicare and to expand federal support for older adults' healthcare services. Tom has 17 years of healthcare policy experience in a career that spans from managing community programs to government service to lobbying Congress. Before joining the National Committee, he lobbied on Medicare issues for the American Psychiatric Association. In this role, he advocated for enhanced beneficiary appeals protections in the Part D program and advanced the issue of coinsurance parity for mental health services under Part B. His 10 years of national policy and government relations work include positions as Director of Government Relations for the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare and as Director of Consumer Advocacy for the National Mental Health Association. Prior to this work, he managed a program for homeless people with serious mental illnesses. Tom received his Master of Public Administration degree from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan .

• Robert Gerson , Policy Analyst.  Before coming to the National Committee, Robert was the Senior Research Associate at the Campaign for America 's Future. At CAF Robert worked on economic, employment, security, and health care issues and served as the staff facilitator for the bi-weekly meeting of the Tuesday Group. In 2002, after receiving his B.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland , Robert returned to his hometown of Memphis , TN as Staff Assistant in the district office of former Congressman, Harold Ford, Jr.  In Memphis, he assisted the constituents of Tennessee's 9th on issues ranging from housing to Social Security and Medicare. Inspired by his experiences, Robert left Memphis in 2004 to attended The American University where he received a Masters in Public Policy with a concentration in Social Policy. While in the program Robert focused on racial and ethnic disparities in health care, issues in Medicare during the implementation of Part D, and the relationship of poverty and health.