The Truth of Health Reform

Judy Feder

Judy Feder is Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University where she was Dean of the Public Policy Institute from 1999 through 2008.  Judy is one of the nation's leaders in health policy—particularly in efforts to understand and improve the U.S health insurance system. A widely published scholar, her expertise on health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and long-term care is regularly drawn upon by members of Congress, executive officials, and the national media. Judy has also held leadership policy positions. As staff director of the congressional Pepper Commission—chaired by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV)—she is widely credited with setting the stage for the health reform debate of the 1990s.

During former President Bill Clinton’s first term, she served as principal deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services, where she worked to expand health insurance coverage, effectively manage Medicare and Medicaid, and assure the safety of food and drugs. She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the National Academy of Social Insurance; a former chair and board member of AcademyHealth; a member of the Center for American Progress Action Fund board, the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships Program Advisory Board, and the Hamilton Project’s Advisory Council; and a senior advisor to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Judy is a political scientist, with a B.A. from Brandeis University, and a master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University.