I am in my second year of the Data Analysis and Visualization MS program but not that close to finishing! Before taking a break for school I was the health policy director at an advocacy organization here in New York City. A lot of the organization’s work is city-level, but most health care policy issues are controlled by the state so I was mostly working on state-level legislation. There was also a lot of federal work during the Trump Administration, things like regulatory comments and explaining the impact of various ACA-repeal efforts. The most important campaigns I worked on at the state level were expanding public health insurance for undocumented immigrants and immigrants with a status called “people residing under the color of law” (PRUCOL), protections for people with medical debt, and making hospitals comply with financial assistance laws. I spent a lot of time and energy telling hospitals to stop suing people and asking legislators to tell hospitals to stop suing people.

Before that I worked at a non-profit in DC that was like a consulting firm for state executive branches. I spent a lot of time on something called “value-based payments” which everyone has quietly moved on from as far as I can tell. I have an MPP from the University of Chicago and a BA in Media Studies from the University of Buffalo. I also did minors in Comparative Literature and English which I guess I’m sharing because I don’t like being a math person, even though that’s how it turned out!

 I started my first graduate program at the same time President Obama was sworn in for his first term and my career has been heavily shaped by the ups and downs in passing, implementing, and protecting the Affordable Care Act. That means my experience of “politics” is a narrow one focused on communal government, legislative strategy, and figuring out technical solutions or maneuvers when you encounter unmovable opposition. People sometimes see that process as “icky” but I am really fascinated by it and how legislators make decisions about what they support and what they say to their constituents. In the class I’d like to hear what people with different backgrounds say about politics as a thing. I want a chance to think about the experiences I’ve had working on legislation or regulatory changes with input from people with different backgrounds. Another really basic goal is keeping up with the blog posts which I think is going to be hard!