Tony Garr

As a young man, Tony led a coalition of patient advocacy organizations that helped win creation of a high risk insurance pool so that people with pre-existing medical conditions might have a chance to buy health coverage. He helped establish and in 1989 became the first executive director of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, to advocate for affordable quality health care for all Tennesseans. He filled that role for 21 years, but after retirement continued to volunteer 60 hours a week helping connect people to coverage. After the Affordable Care Act took effect, he was part of an amazing volunteer effort across the state to help people sign up for the coverage available under the new law. Enroll America, the national organization supporting enrollment efforts, hired Tony to manage their activities across several states. He retired again in 2015, but as before, that only meant that he stopped being paid. As a volunteer, he has continued to enroll hundreds of people in insurance, and to advocate for more humane and effective state health policies.