Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy

Karen Davenport

Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy at the National Women's Law Center, has focused her career on advocacy, research and public policy development dedicated to improving Americans' access to health care. Before joining NWLC, she worked as a Research Project Director and Lecturer in the George Washington University's Department of Health Policy, and as the Director of Health Policy at the Center for American Progress, where she directed health policy research and advocacy, with a particular focus on health care reform. As a Senior Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, she developed and managed national programs dedicated to increasing health insurance coverage for children and families and improving long-term care financing and services for frail elders and people with disabilities. As a Legislative Assistant to Senator Bob Kerrey, she was responsible for staffing the Senator's work on Medicare, Medicaid, public health, welfare and social issues. Her earlier federal experience includes serving as a specialist in Medicaid legislation for the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). Davenport earned an MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a BA in political science from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.

  • Printer-friendly version
  • Send by email

My Take

What Delaying the Health Care Law's Employer Responsibility Requirement Means for Real People

Posted by Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy | Posted on: July 03, 2013 at 03:35 pm

Yesterday's surprise announcement that the Obama Administration is postponing implementation of the health reform law's requirement that firms with more than 50 workers provide affordable, comprehensive health insurance or pay a small penalty set off a flurry of commentary and speculation. Much of this reaction focused on how the decision will affect larger employers and their workers — that is, very little — and others weighed in on the political implications of this move. The biggest impact on large employers is if they do not provide the requisite health insurance they will not have to pay the penalty for one more year. But little analysis and commentary considered what this decision means for low-wage workers' access to health insurance exchanges, nor the outreach and education challenges it creates. 

With or without this postponement, beginning January 1, many workers whose employers do not offer coverage, or whose employer offers coverage that does not meet minimum standards for premium affordability and sufficient benefits, will qualify for help with premiums and cost-sharing for coverage they purchase in the health insurance exchange operating in their state. These marketplaces will offer participants a choice among fully-vetted health plans that meet state and federal standards. Workers with good employer-sponsored health insurance won't be able to receive subsidies to purchase coverage in the exchange, but those workers without access to good employer-sponsored coverage, or coverage that exceeds 9.5 percent of their incomes, will qualify for this help. 

Today, low-wage workers are more likely to pay a larger share of the premium for employer-sponsored coverage than workers with higher earnings. 

Read more...
Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Care, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | Add new comment

Medicare: Meeting Women’s Needs Today and Tomorrow

Posted by Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy | Posted on: August 17, 2012 at 12:45 pm

We strongly disagree with former Senator Alan Simpson, who told Bloomberg News earlier this week, “Medicare is on automatic pilot. It will use up every resource in the government.”

Senator Simpson is known for his rhetorical flair and long-standing interest in our nation’s fiscal health. He recently co-chaired a national commission on fiscal responsibility and is well known for telling Americans that we need to make tough fiscal choices. Unfortunately, he characterizes Medicare as a budget conundrum, not the critically important health insurance program it really is. Medicare covers hospital care, doctors’ visits, diagnostic tests, rehabilitation, home health care, preventive care and more for more than 47 million older Americans and individuals with disabilities. For 47 years it has been a pillar of our nation’s health care system, and – because Medicare enrollees are older, sicker and need more health care services than the rest of the population – is an important source of revenue for health care providers. For example, Medicare payments represent 28 percent of national spending on hospital care and 45 percent of spending on home health services.

Read more...
Tags: Congress, Medicare, Medicaid & Other Public Funding, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | 1 comment

31 Reasons We Love the Health Care Law

Posted by Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy | Posted on: July 11, 2012 at 10:58 am

Today the House of Representatives will vote on the proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the landmark health reform law that the Supreme Court recently determined to be constitutional. Congress has already voted to repeal all or part of this law 30 previous times – but perhaps the House leaders really just want to go out for ice cream and have the number 31 stuck in their heads. Below we offer our 31 favorite flavors of health reform, or at least our 31 favorite reasons to protect the Affordable Care Act.

  1. 7 million American women will be eligible for tax credits to help them purchase coverage.
  2. Millions of uninsured women will be newly eligible for Medicaid coverage.
  3. 6.6 million young adults have already benefited from the provision that enables children to stay on their parent’s insurance until age 26.
  4. Insurance companies cannot drop your coverage if you get sick.
  5. Insurers will no longer be able to put lifetime and annual caps on your coverage.
  6. Insurance companies must spend 80 to 85 percent of premiums on health care, instead of on administrative costs and profits.
Read more...
Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Care, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | 4 comments

Help Stop Efforts to Repeal the Health Care Law!

Posted by Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy | Posted on: July 09, 2012 at 04:20 pm

Even before the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the health care law is constitutional, opponents of the law already had decided that they were going to repeal it. To make matters worse, they have no plan to ensure that women and their families have access to quality, affordable health care.

They say it's about policy. It is — a policy of putting politics above the health of women and their families.

Tell your Member of Congress to oppose repealing the health care law.

The health care law is already providing people with pre-existing conditions access to health care coverage.

Read more...
Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), House of Representatives, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | 2 comments

Don’t Believe Everything You Read: The ACA IS Helping Women

Posted by Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy | Posted on: June 14, 2012 at 09:55 am

In her recent post on National Review Online, Grace-Marie Turner argues that American women will pay more for health insurance coverage while losing autonomy, choice and high-quality care under the Affordable Care Act.  These accusations – and others – compose a familiar refrain from the opponents of the health care law, but it is a chorus that is inaccurate and out of tune.

On the contrary, the ACA is already helping women and their families gain access to affordable coverage and will continue to expand access as the law is implemented. For example, over 19 million women already have access to a number of preventive services without cost-sharing, including mammograms and colonoscopies. And contrary to Turner’s claims that the ACA will result in the loss of dependent coverage,over 2.5 million young people have been able to gain coverage through a provision that allows dependents to stay on their parents’ coverage through age 26.

Over the next few years, the ACA will continue to expand health care access for millions of American women – such as women who today cannot purchase coverage in the individual market because they have a pre-existing condition, who must pay more than men for the same health insurance policy, and whose individual market plan does not even provide coverage for maternity care.

Read more...
Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Care, Health Care Reform | 1 comment