First Interview: Notes from Senate Finance Meeting with Andrew Hu

Very interesting meeting today. The sequence of events is: I had e-mailed my interest to Mr. Hu (Senate-Finance-Majority) last Tuesday, and had heard nothing- I e-mailed again on Sunday, and was invited to interview today. He met me at 4:45 PM this evening, and we had what I thought was a productive 30 minute chat. He explained to me that he joined the Committee staff in September 2008, and that he really didn't know much about what the Committee was like during normal time- for him it had been all health reform all of the time. He explained again how the Committee's agenda "after health care" was quite unclear; he said that many people would be leaving after this "battle" was done, and that he thought that the focus for next year would be fixes and oversight.

He told me (a bit indirectly) that he had interviewed Andy on Friday, and then had been told by his "higher ups" that he needed to interview more people than that, hence my interview today. I got the sense that he had just wanted to offer Andy the job and be done with it. I think by the end of the interview he thought I would be acceptable as well, and that he would e-mail Liz Fowler that information going forward. He told me to expect to hear from them with in a week.

He seemed to think that he should interview some other folks, but wasn't clear on who would be best to interview; his "higher ups" felt that he should interview everyone who was "interested". I suggested that he should discuss with you who else was "really interested" in this position, since we were all keeping in close touch with you. You may wish to proactively suggest others that he should invite to be interviewed; he seemed very focused on the immediate issue of health reform, and hoped to interview as few people as possible to move this process forward, which is apparently different than the usual process.

My assessment is that this assignment would afford me an excellent opportunity to learn about the relationship between finance and systems of care, and that moves it ahead of Ways and Means for now. I will see how my interview with them on Thursday goes.

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E-mail today:

Hi David,

I’ve spoken to Liz and she feels it would be worthwhile for you to come in for an interview with the staff. So I’ve set up the schedule for tomorrow, Wednesday, November 18th, starting at 1:00 PM. Hopefully, everyone will be able to hold this schedule and you’ll have a chance to meet with everyone. But please come to Dirksen 205, I should be the first desk you see and I will direct you to folks as they come. Thanks!

Interview Schedule for Dr. David Keller

1:00-1:30 – Liz, David, Yvette
1:30-2:00 – Chris, Neleen, Tony
2:00-2:30 – Shawn, Diedra
2:30-3:00 – Bullpen


Andrew Hu
Health Research Assistant
Senate Committee on Finance
(202) 224-4515