Kaitlyn Kenney, Northeastern University,
PhD Program in American Public Policy

Health care, particularly affordable health care access

On the first day of my placement in Senator Richard T. Moore’s office, I set out to acquire a copy of the health care bill, Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006. Though I am in the midst of writing a doctoral dissertation on health care reform and have looked at associated legislation, this was my first experience analyzing a bill in such detail. Generally, I’ve looked at reform movements more broadly, and tried to gain a better understanding of the politics and rhetoric shaping reform movements as opposed to this situation in which I studied the specific details and substance of the reform bill… I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS IN FOR! 

I struggled with the language, and to find the references in Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) and in Session Laws to which the bill referred. It took me a lot of time to read each section and then interpret its meaning in a practical sense. Nonetheless, by the end of my placement, I had navigated Chapter 58 numerous times, and was able to very quickly refer to certain sections and provide explanations of their intent. 

Just before I began my placement, the Senator’s General Council and Health Policy Advisor departed for another job. About halfway through my fellowship, her replacement was hired.  This turned out to be very much to my benefit. Along with the Senior Legislative Director, I had the opportunity to be one of the primary “health care” staff for a brief period of time.  When the new General Council was hired, we worked together to review legislative issues and to formulate a Senate bill in response to the House’s technical corrections bill; though I was an intern and she a full time employee, the time I had been able to devote to studying the bill and the issues raised by stakeholders in the interim between the previous staff person’s departure and her arrival provided me with much insight and familiarity so I felt I was able to make a valuable contribution to our efforts. 

Perhaps most concretely I was able to provide: section by section summaries of the House technical corrections bill and the subsequent initial draft of the Senate technical corrections bill; a section by section summary of those areas of the law garnering most attention or concern among stakeholders, academics, and other concerned groups; and I was able to contribute to the development of a PowerPoint presentation that the Senator will be able to use to educate others about the scope and impact of the law. 

I was fortunate to work for a Senator and staff who are truly knowledgeable about and dedicated to the bills on which they work. In that sense, many of the documents I was able to provide did not offer expansive new knowledge, but rather the materials and tools necessary to assist them as they work to revise or explain the health care bill.