Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel

Dania is a Senior Counsel for Health and Reproductive Rights. Her work focuses primarily on implementing health reform and expanding access to quality, affordable health care for women and their families. Prior to joining the Law Center, Dania worked for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Starting her work at SEIU in the research department, she became interested in expanding access to health care to low income families and spent a few years as Deputy Administrator of a health benefit program at SEIU, working to provide affordable health insurance to previously uninsured low wage workers and their families. After the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), she worked on implementing the law as Associate Director of Health Policy. Her background in the ACA includes insurance reforms, coverage expansions and delivery system reform, with particular expertise in employer benefits and insurance reforms. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Expert in: Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Medicaid & Other Public Funding, Health Care & Reproductive Rights
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My Take

One Year Ago Today, They Tried to Repeal My Health Care

Posted by Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel | Posted on: January 19, 2012 at 12:45 pm

Today is the anniversary of the day members of Congress tried to take away my health care. (Luckily, the Senate stayed strong in support of the law).

I spend a lot of time thinking about how the Affordable Care Act will help other people access health care. Today, on the anniversary of the day the U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal the law, I want to reflect on what I would have lost if the repeal effort was successful.

1. I don't have to make employment choices based on health care.

When I decided to go to law school, I was searching for a diagnosis for debilitating pain. The idea of giving up my employment based coverage when I had an unknown condition that was likely chronic was terrifying. I couldn't do it. I didn't have to try and get coverage on the individual market to know I would be denied because of pre-existing conditions. So I decided to go to school at night and work full-time. Like many Americans, I had to make an important employment decision based on my health.

But come 2014, things will change:

  • No insurance company can deny me coverage for a pre-existing condition,
  • No insurance company can charge me more because I'm sick,
  • No insurance company can charge me more because I'm a woman, and
  • New Exchanges will provide market places to find and enroll in coverage.
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Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | Add new comment

Cars, Condoms, and Cervical Cancer: Get Vaccinated and Get Screened for Free!

Posted by Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel | Posted on: January 13, 2012 at 01:55 pm

One day, in my late 20’s, I was in a car with a friend and she told me about this sexually transmitted virus that almost every woman has been exposed to that causes cancer even if you are using condoms.

There was a lot to take in during that conversation. I never thought about cervical cancer as a teenager. I had never heard of human papillomavirus (HPV). The idea that cancer could be caused by a virus never crossed my mind.

Since then, I have learned a lot more about HPV -- including that use of condoms does reduce the risk of transmission. As I have learned about HPV, I have learned about its connection to cervical cancer. As I learned about cervical cancer, I learned about the importance of getting regular pap smears.

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. But I think we are taking tremendous steps to reduce cervical cancer deaths.

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Tags: Reproductive Health & Rights, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | Add new comment

States File Brief with Supreme Court Challenging Medicaid Expansion

Posted by Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel | Posted on: January 11, 2012 at 05:28 pm

Yesterday, 26 states filed a brief with the Supreme Court challenging the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional. These states are asking the Supreme Court to make an unprecedented decision that could leave 10 million women without access to medical services and could put countless civil rights laws at risk.

The states claim that the Medicaid expansion is coercive because, given state budgetary constraints, states can’t really opt out of Medicaid so they are coerced into covering the expanded population and not cutting back on current eligibility rules. But states can opt out and at least two states – including the lead state on the Supreme Court challenge – have publically considered the possibility. If a state chooses to continue offering Medicaid and comply with the provisions of the Affordable Care Act because offering Medicaid is the best option to provide health care to the state residents, that isn’t coercion. That is proof that Medicaid works.

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Tags: Medicaid, Supreme Court, Medicaid & Other Public Funding, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | Add new comment

House Bill Takes Away Promises of Affordable Care

Posted by Dania Palanker, Senior Counsel | Posted on: December 13, 2011 at 04:15 pm

With continued high unemployment causing increased numbers of women to lose health insurance coverage, policy makers should be trying to help people afford insurance.  They should ensure that someone doesn’t have to stop medical treatment because she lost her job.  They shouldn’t make it more difficult to access health coverage – but that is just what H.R. 3630 (introduced by Rep. Dave Camp, R-MI), a bill up for a vote in the House today, does. 

Reduce Financial Protections for Low- and Moderate-Income Americans who Receive Tax Credits under the Affordable Care Act

In 2014, the Affordable Care Act will provide tax credits to help individuals and families purchase coverage through a health insurance exchange.  Advance payments of the tax credits to help pay for insurance premiums (“premium tax credits”) will be paid directly to the insurance company based on information on household size and income provided to the insurance exchange.  Credits will be available on a sliding scale to help people with household income under 400 percent of the federal poverty level (about $88,000 for a family of four in 2011).

Actual income will often be different than income projected when a family enrolls in coverage.  People get married or divorced.  People lose jobs or get new jobs.  Some people work fewer hours than they expected.  Other people get promotions or bonuses.  Sometimes an unexpected cost arises – perhaps a large medical bill – that requires a person to take a second job. 

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Tags: 112 Congress, Health Care, Health Insurance, Taxes, Health Care Reform, Unemployment, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | Add new comment