Karen Pollitz, MPP
Health Policy Analyst
Ms. Pollitz is currently the Deputy Director of the Office of Consumer Support in the Department of Health and Human Services. In order to serve in the Obama administration, she took a leave from being a Research Professor at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute. There she directed research on health insurance reform issues as they affect consumers and patients. Her areas of focus included regulation of private health insurance plans and markets, managed care consumer protections, and access to affordable health insurance. She is also an adjunct professor in Georgetown’s Graduate Public Policy School.
Previously, Ms. Pollitz served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Legislation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1993 to 1997. In this capacity she was the Secretary’s legislative liaison on all federal health care issues, including national health care reform, Medicare, Medicaid, and U.S. Public Health Service agencies and programs.
From 1984 to 1991, Ms. Pollitz worked as a health policy advisor to several Members of Congress. She was legislative assistant to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), Congressman Sander Levin (D-MI), and the Subcommittee on Compensation and Employee Benefits of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee. After leaving the Hill, Ms. Pollitz worked as the Assistant Director of the Washington Office of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and taught at the Marymount University School of Business.
Ms. Pollitz is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. She is also a member of the advisory board of the California Health Benefits Review Program. From 2004-2006, she served on the Board of Directors of the Maryland Health Insurance Plan (MHIP). From 2004-2005, she was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Cancer Survivorship. In 2000-2001, she served on the standards committee of the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA). Ms. Pollitz also occasionally volunteers for the American Cancer Society’s “Reach to Recovery” program. She holds an M.P.P. from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. with Honors from Oberlin College.