Grace-Marie Turner, the founder and president of the Galen Institute, spoke at the 2018 National Conference that was held June 21-23 in Washington D.C. The Galen Institute and Grace-Marie work to promote informed debate over free-market ideas for health reform.

During her talk, Grace-Marie described her experience starting the Galen Institute. She started her public policy research organization because she just didn’t want to be against ‘Hilary Care’, she wanted to be for something. Grace-Marie saw a need the institute because she observed an environment where men wanted to compete for a clear winner in the end, and she knew that this would never work in politics.

In her organization, Grace-Marie fosters the idea of fruitful discussion and respecting the differences of others. After seeing the Galen Institute and other conservative organizations in and around D.C. were unable to have a cohesive idea on health reform, she decided to get all of the leaders of these organizations together to discuss. She gathered thinkers and leaders together in order to see if there were some core principles they could all agree upon.

Recently, Grace-Marie and the Galen Institute have been seen in the news because of the plan they’ve released, which she believes will be the new generation of health policy. The plan, called the Health Care Choices Proposal, takes a federalist approach in moving power and control of the health sector away from Washington, through the states, and ultimately to consumers. Former Senator Rick Santorum, Marie Fishpaw of The Heritage Foundation, Dan Holler of Heritage Action, Doug Badger of Galen and Heritage, and Yuval Levin of the Ethics and Public Policy Center all been leaders helping to develop the plan.

Grace-Marie said, “Being a woman helps you. It is not a hindrance. You have skills that [men] don’t have.” This closing line stuck with every girl in the room.