Christmas party leads to job with US President

August 10, 2010

Last December, Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario was enjoying some festive cheer with none other than Barack Obama at the White House Christmas party.

Following the party, he was then invited to a meeting in the White House's Roosevelt Room. What started off as a bit of Christmas spirit has now turned into a job offer – Ario will leave his job in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to take a job in Washington helping Obama develop a key component of the nation's new health-care system.

Ario will begin his new role, called the 'new federal Office of Consumer Information and Oversight,' on 30 August. He will help to create health-insurance exchanges in each state that allow individuals and small businesses to shop for health insurance. These marketplaces are to take effect in 2014.

Ario said he liked the president, “I was certainly impressed with the guy. He's very low-key, a very empathetic listener, and I think quite persuasive.”

Ario last made headlines in January of last year when he forced Pennsylvania's two largest insurers - Philadelphia's Independence Blue Cross and Pittsburgh's Highmark Inc. - to withdraw their merger proposal.

Independence Blue Cross spokeswoman Judimarie Thomas said, “We wish Commissioner Ario well as he takes on a new post in the rollout of health-care reform at the national level.”