Science / Health Policy

Helen Ann Halpin
Professor of health policy, director of the Center for Health and Public Policy Studies (CHPPS), vice-chair of the California Health Benefits Review Program

Expertise:
Access to health insurance, health care reform, consumer experiences in managed care, health insurance benefit mandates, smoking cessation benefits, integration of health promotion and disease prevention services in the U.S. health care system.

Contact:
(510) 642-2862 (direct office) or (510) 643-1675 (CHPPS)
E-mail: helenhs@berkeley.edu

Additional contacts:
Sarah Yang, Media Relations: (510) 643-7741
scyang@berkeley.edu
Roxanne Makasdjian, broadcast: (510) 642-6051, roxannem@berkeley.edu

Background:
Halpin’s research focuses on health insurance policy, including health insurance benefit design, health care reform, access to care, consumer experiences in managed care, and disease prevention and health promotion. She has been quoted extensively by both print and broadcast media on issues related to national health care reform, particularly for Medicare and Medicaid. She has closely followed the proposals by the 2004 presidential candidates to increase Americans’ access to health insurance.

She has also published numerous studies on health insurance coverage for tobacco prevention treatments, particularly by Medicaid and health maintenance organizations.