A Vote for Health: Medicaid

Joan Alker is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Children and Families (CCF), and a Research Professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. She is a nationally recognized expert on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and is the lead author of CCF’s annual report on children’s health care coverage trends. Alker has published in journals such as JAMA and Health Affairs and has written numerous reports, blogs, and other commentary on a wide range of issues including Medicaid Section 1115 waivers, child and family health, the role of Medicaid in rural areas, and numerous reports on premium assistance for the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Alker has testified before Congress, served on expert advisory panels to the federal government, and is a frequent speaker and commentator; she is routinely quoted in major national and state media outlets such as the New York Times, NPR, Politico, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Kaiser Health News. Joan Alker holds a Master of Philosophy in politics from St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, and a Bachelor of Arts with honors in political science from Bryn Mawr College.

Dr. Fung is a health services researcher whose research focuses on health care financing and policy, with a focus on insurance coverage and access to care for vulnerable populations, including those with serious mental illness. This research aims to identify approaches that can improve patient outcomes, while also lowering costs, by addressing the complex needs of patients who are at greater risk of facing financial and non-financial barriers to necessary medical care. Dr. Fung leads multiple federally funded studies that examine the effects of changes in health care financing, including in Medicaid, Medicare, and for federally qualified health centers, on medical care use, outcomes, medical spending, and disparities in care. She also collaborates on studies that examine the post-Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance market, the effects of value-based insurance policies, and interventions to improve care delivery and outcomes for patients with serious mental illness. Her studies bridge multiple types of data, including data from electronic health records, claims data, and patient and provider surveys, and explore approaches for maximizing the value of electronic data sources. Dr. Fung received her undergraduate degree in economics from Yale University and completed her doctoral training in health services research, with a focus on health economics, at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her post-doctoral training at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.

Kate McEvoy became Executive Director of NAMD in January 2023. In this role, she will work with the Board of Directors to establish a post-pandemic vision for the association and to continue to support and elevate the interests, perspective, and voices of Medicaid Directors from every state and territory in United States as well as the millions of Americans served by the program.

At Kate’s former position, she led the Milbank Memorial Fund’s work in support of state executive branch staff and policymakers, and also guides its work on healthy aging. Prior to joining Milbank, she was the Director of Health Services for Connecticut’s Department of Social Services, where she oversaw delivery and payment reform for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and long-term services and supports. During this time, she served as president and vice president of NAMD’s Board of Directors. Previous to her service as a Medicaid Director, she contributed to state health reform efforts in the Office of the State Comptroller, which oversees state employee benefits.

An elder law attorney by training, Kate’s early career was dedicated to working with and for older adults and people with disabilities at the Connecticut Association of Area Agencies on Aging. She also served as a past chair of the Elder Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association and on the Steering Committee of the Reforming States Group. Kate holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law and a B.A. in English and Economics from Oberlin College.

Chima Ndumele is an Associate Professor of Public Health (Health Policy) at the Yale School of Public Health. His research is focused on better understanding factors which influence the way vulnerable populations connect with and access health care resources. Specifically, he conducts work in three areas. The first examines how changes in local policy environment impact the care received by Medicaid enrollees. The second area explores how safety-net organizations can improve health care services delivery. Finally, he investigates the effects of changes in insurance coverage on the quality of care received by individuals with chronic physical and mental health conditions. He received his PhD from the Brown University School of Public Health.

Rachana Pradhan, correspondent, reports on an array of national health policy issues and their effects on everyday Americans. She came to KFF Health News from Politico, where for five years she covered health care policy and politics. Rachana reported on former HHS Secretary Tom Price’s extensive use of private jets at taxpayers’ expense. The investigation, which resulted in Price’s resignation, was a 2018 finalist for the American Society of News Editors’ O’Brien Fellowship Award and earned an honorable mention for the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Edgar A. Poe award. Rachana also covered the implementation of the Affordable Care Act for Inside Health Policy, a health care trade publication. She graduated from James Madison University.