Jon R. Cohen is an American physician, business executive, and former public official who is currently the CEO of Talkspace, one of the largest telehealth, mental health companies in the U.S.
[1] As Chairman of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief, Cohen's department grew to 18 surgeons, with an institutional surgical volume increasing from 17,000 to 25,000 cases per year.
In 2000, Cohen was appointed as chief medical officer and senior vice president for the newly merged entity, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.
He proposed linking universal health-insurance coverage to economic development, repeating his message that "health care is a right, not a privilege."
He favored setting up an insurance pool backed by private carriers that would spread the risk of health care coverage, making it affordable for small businesses, as well as spearheading state-led investment in biotechnology and stem cell research to foster job creation and medical innovation.
Cohen further developed plans to cut fraud and waste from the Medicaid system, which he blamed for ruining county budgets, stating, "What's happening is, there's too little money left for roads, for senior citizen programs and for schools."