Graduate School
Harvard Medical School

Undergraduate School
Miami University

Mentor
Phyllis Rappaport, Chair, Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation

Agency
Massachusetts Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector

Supervisor
Eric Dahlberg, Connector Associate

Description of Fellowship
Jessica spent her summer working at the Commonwealth Health Connector Authority on a number of different projects. Although her original project proposal had been to examine the impact of the 2006 health reforms on realized health access in Massachusetts (particularly in relation to affordability, premium levels, and out-of-pocket payments), she encountered some data availability problems since the data she needed was not scheduled to be released until the fall. As such, she shifted her focus to working on a national health reform project, which worked out perfectly since insurance market regulation has long been a research interest of hers. As part of her project for the Connector, she examined the impact proposed federal legislation would have on the Connector and suggested ways the Connector could adapt. Her final products were a comparative grid and draft for a white paper on this issue.