Healthcare spending represents about $1 of every $6 in the U.S. economy, so the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans had it about right this year when they chose two healthcare executives among their 11 winners of the association's annual award. Lawrence Higby and Alan Miller were among those who were inducted last month into the association during a ceremony at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington.
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Higby is vice chairman and former CEO of home-health provider Apria Healthcare, Lake Forest, Calif.
Miller is the founder, chairman and CEO of Universal Health Services, King of Prussia, Pa., which operates both acute-care and behavioral-health hospitals.
The award, with a nod to the youth novels that author Horatio Alger Jr. wrote in the 19th century, recognizes leaders who overcame adversity through honesty, hard work, self-reliance and perseverance.
Other 2010 inductees include former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and retired Gen. Tommy Franks, former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army's Central Command who oversaw the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
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