Michael F. Cannon

Michael F. Cannon


Cato Institute


Michael F. Cannon is the Cato Instituteโ€™s director of health policy studies. Cannon is โ€œan influential healthโ€โ€‹care wonkโ€ (Washington Post), โ€œObamaCareโ€™s single most relentless antagonistโ€ (New Republic), โ€œObamaCareโ€™s fiercest criticโ€ (The Week), โ€œthe intellectual fatherโ€ of King v. Burwell (Modern Healthcare), and โ€œthe most famous libertarian health care scholarโ€ (Washington Examiner). Washingtonian magazine named Cannon one of Washington D.C.โ€™s โ€œMost Influential Peopleโ€ in both 2021 and 2022.

Cannon has appeared on ABC, Al Jazeera, BBC, CBS, CNN, CNBC, Cโ€‘SPAN, Fox News Channel, NPR, and other broadcast media. His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal; the New York TimesUSA Today; the Washington Post; the Los Angeles Times; the New York Post; the Chicago Tribune; the Chicago Sunโ€โ€‹Times; the San Francisco ChronicleSCOTUSBlogHuffington PostForum for Health Economics and PolicyJAMA Internal MedicineHealth Matrix: Journal of Lawโ€โ€‹MedicineHarvard Health Policy Review; the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics; the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law; and Quinnipiac Health Law Journal.

Cannon is the coeditor of Replacing Obamacare: The Cato Institute on Health Care Reform, author of 50 Vetoes: How States Can Stop the Obama Health Care Law, and coauthor of Healthy Competition: Whatโ€™s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It. Previously, he served as a domestic policy analyst for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, where he advised the Senate leadership on health, education, labor, welfare, and the Second Amendment.

Cannon holds an MA in economics and a JM in law and economics from George Mason University and a BA in American government from the University of Virginia. He is a member of the Board of Advisers of Harvard Health Policy Review and the Federalist Society Regulatory Transparency Projectโ€™s FDA & Health Working Group.