A nationally respected voice for “individuals, not bureaucracies” in health care, Grace-Marie Turner never lost her belief that health reform was within the nation’s grasp as long as advocates stayed unified and persistent.
Turner, aged 77, died on May 29, 2025, from brain cancer, according to the organization, CURE Policy.
Turner was the founder and president of the Galen Institute. Turner promoted health care reform over three decades through leadership, speaking, testifying, writing, and advising. Turner was the leading force behind Health Care Choices 20/20, a proposal developed over months by a long-time coalition of policy advisors, researchers, legislators, and health care professionals.
The proposal promoted reforms such as insurance portability; price transparency; block grants to support coverage of lower-income, vulnerable patients; centers of excellence health plans; direct primary care; telehealth; and repeal of certificate-of-need laws.
Galen also hosted “Consensus Group” virtual meetings throughout the year to keep policy leaders informed about the hundreds of free-market policy initiatives taking place at the state and national levels.
In 2020, Business Insider named Turner one of the 24 most powerful people advising the White House on health care policy.
A Personal Hero
Turner influenced several people to take up the reins for health care reform and push it in new directions. Among those was Kansas state Sen. Beverly Gossage (R-District 9). In 2002, Gossage left the education field to help her family’s small business find affordable health insurance.
“I wrote them one of the first qualified plans in the U.S. using medical savings accounts, now known a health savings accounts (HSAs),” said Gossage. “Not long after that, I realized that government regulations were causing rates to be high and placing restrictions on the free market. I had never been involved politically but decided it was time someone spoke up.”
Gossage reached out to Turner about her work in free-market health care policy.
“She was one of my personal heroes,” said Gossage.
(photo, courtesy Beverly Gossage)
Gossage and Turner worked on many committees together.
“She was always so encouraging and complimentary,” said Gossage. “A real lady whose testimony was valued in D.C. She made you feel like you were her closest friend and would say, ‘Beverly, we all value your experience and opinion.’ Now, that may not be so, but it was high praise, coming from Grace-Marie.
“She was one of the first to congratulate me when I was elected a state senator and to console me when I lost my husband,” said Gossage.
White House Connections
Turner worked closely with members of Congress and White House advisors, whom she later brought in under the Galen umbrella as senior fellows. Doug Badger was an economic advisor to President George W. Bush, who also served in advisory roles in the U.S. Senate, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Social Security Administration.
(photo, courtesy, Beverly Gossage)
Grace-Marie was the soul of conservative health policy, holding fast to her focus and grounded optimism through three decades of ups and downs,” said Badger.
“Grace-Marie was trusted by generations of lawmakers, as evidenced by her being called to testify at dozens of congressional hearings,” said Badger. “She had strong convictions but was always tethered to the facts. She was one of a kind—smart but not condescending, creative but practical, successful but not a self-promoter, hardworking but well-rounded, and above all a woman of deep and abiding faith.”
Turner also brought in Brian Blase, a White House economic adviser in the first Trump administration who is now the president of The Paragon Health Institute.
“After I left the White House, I found a home at Galen with Grace-Marie and Doug Badger. And Grace-Marie, more than anyone else, counseled me in establishing (the Paragon Health Institute),” wrote Blase on X.
“She was always gracious and kind,” wrote Blase. “She was a mentor. Her loss is devastating for me and the free-market health policy movement.”
‘A Consensus Builder’
Turner unified the health care reform movement into a powerful force, says John C. Goodman, president of the Goodman Institute for Public Policy Research and co-publisher of Health Care News.
“Grace-Marie did an incredible job of pulling together right-of-center think tank folks and finding consensus among them,” said Goodman. “Hard to believe, but prior to her valiant efforts, the health policy folks at the various think tanks rarely talked to each other. And when they did talk, they argued. She was a consensus builder, and the world is a better place because she lived.”
Turner was a “powerful and constant force” who could bring together strong opinions and make the most hostile room “feel safe,” wrote Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, in a Cato blog post.
“In 1993, she founded the Health Policy Consensus Group, a decades-long, often grueling project to find common ground among free-market health policy wonks, a task that perhaps only Grace-Marie could execute,” wrote Cannon. “(Among her sly devices: baking cookies for the meetings.) In 1995, she founded the Galen Institute, a think tank that fostered market-based health reforms.”
Gossage continued her work with Turner until her death and said she was honored when Turner asked Gossage to be her personal health insurance agent.
“Her most recent health battle was tough to hear, but I was pleased to assist her and her husband, Mark [Noyes], as he navigated the health system while tending to her,” said Gossage. “We have lost a true health-care policy warrior and a dear friend.”
AnneMarie Schieber ([email protected]) is the managing editor of Health Care News.
AnneMarie Schieber is a research fellow at The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Health Care News, Heartland’s monthly newspaper for health care reform.
