Five of the 24 people invited to sit near First Lady Michelle Obama at tonight’s State of the Union have strong health care connections. They include a governor, a business owner and a beneficiary of the health law provision that prevents health plans from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
Typically, the invited guests at the joint session of Congress help the president highlight a new initiative or show how administration policy is working.
Here are the biographies furnished by The White House:
- Peter Hudson of Evergreen, CO: Co-Founder and CEO, iTriage Hudson is a physician and entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience founding and growing healthcare-related businesses. Using open government data, he launched iTriage in 2009 to help consumers engage in their own healthcare. Through an app, smartphone users can locate nearby providers based on their symptoms, make appointments, store their personal health records, save medication refill reminders, and learn about thousands of medications, diseases and procedures. Continue reading