Since 2009, Ken Janda has been the CEO and president of Community Health Choice, a Houston-based organization that provides managed health care plans with a focus on low-income families. He oversees a team of more than 350 and serves more than 250,000 members. The organization’s goal is to reduce the number of uninsured people and improve health outcomes for its members.

Janda is also an adjunct professor teaching health policy and management at Rice University’s MBA Jones School of Business. Janda graduated from Rice University in 1977 and earned degrees in anthropology, economics and managerial studies. He also holds a law degree he earned in 1981 from the University of Houston Law Center. Janda and his wife, Tracy, also a Rice University graduate, have been married 40 years. They have two grown children and three grandchildren.

What are your biggest challenges as president and CEO of Community Health Choice? 

Challenges include leading a rapidly growing non-profit insurer in an environment of major changes in the health care and health insurance industry, while continuing to deliver excellent service to our members and strengthening our mission to cover the uninsured and improving health outcomes, particularly for more vulnerable populations like moms and babies. And all of this in a politically polarized environment where common-sense solutions are nearly impossible.

How do you work to make insurance affordable?

We actively encourage and help members manage their health care, which improves patient outcomes and lowers costs. We negotiate affordable rates with quality providers in a broad network. We are leaders in value-based payments, a system which encourages quality improving, cost-saving teamwork between physicians, patients and insurers. Most of our members signing up via the health insurance marketplace are eligible for subsidies, which lower the cost of premiums substantially. The average premium paid by Texans eligible for subsidies is less than $90 a month.

How has the Affordable Care Act affected residents in the Greater Houston area? 

The Affordable Care Act has made insurance more affordable for millions of people and has increased protections for Texas residents. About 350,000 previously uninsured residents of the Houston area now have coverage, reducing the uninsured rate significantly. The bottom line is, despite the political rhetoric, the Affordable Care Act has saved lives, saved money, improved health and created jobs in Greater Houston.

What are health issues low income families face? 

Health issues low income families face are poverty, housing, access, education and adult coverage.

Simply being poor and living in low income neighborhoods is one of the highest predictors of poor health. Substandard housing is a huge health issue for low-income families. Many of the low income children in our programs have illnesses and chronic conditions resulting from living with mold, allergens, insects, and diseases or conditions caused by poor housing. Texans still suffer from a coverage gap for working families because Texas didn’t expand Medicaid. More than 4 million Texans aren’t covered by insurance, and lack of insurance is the leading reason people don’t have access to medical care. When people gain health insurance for the first time, they often don’t know how to use it. Most of us are not taught how to use health insurance, and we don’t understand how to use our access to health care and how to take better care of ourselves. One of the top health issues is related to the coverage gap. Low-income children may be covered by Medicaid, but their parents might be in the coverage gap, where they have minimum wage jobs that don’t provide insurance and can’t get Medicaid because Texas politicians didn’t expand it. Those children tend to have worse health and more health problems—and related issues like missing school—because their parents are more likely to get sick and not be treated.

What are the organization’s future goals ?

Our mission is the health and well-being of our members, particularly as it relates to access to quality care. We will continue to work on behalf of people in need of help and care. We would like to see every Texan covered with some form of health insurance—whether commercial, private or public. Most importantly, we want to help our Medicaid members get and maintains jobs so they can move from Medicaid to subsidized marketplace coverage and then to coverage through an employer sponsored plan.

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