Medicaid Policy During the Pandemic: A Ground-Up Perspective

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Presenter:
Dr. Jamila Michener
Cornell University

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in significant changes to Medicaid policy and administration. Scholars know much about the content of these changes and are learning more about their consequences. Dr. Jamila Michener draws on in-depth qualitative interviews with Medicaid beneficiaries to offer evidence about how they experienced the changes to Medicaid that occurred in the wake of the public health emergency. This research emphasizes the value of a “ground-up” perspective and draws on the voices of Medicaid beneficiaries to advance knowledge of how policy design and program administration can facilitate health equity.

Dr. Michener is Associate Professor in the department of Government at Cornell University and Co-Director of the Cornell Center for Health Equity. Her research focuses on poverty, racial inequality and public policy in the United States. Her recent book, Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism and Unequal Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2018) examines how Medicaid—the nation’s public health insurance program for people with low income—affects democratic citizenship.