From Exam Room to Kitchen Table: The Role of Medical Debt in Health

Allison Sesso

President / CEO, RIP Medical Debt

Allison Sesso became the President / CEO of RIP Medical Debt in January of 2020. RIP Medical Debt was established for the sole purpose of reducing the medical debt burdens of low-income individuals with limited capacity to pay their medical bills by leveraging donations from people across the country. They have abolished $6,748,483,828 to date for over 3,619,950 people. Under Allison's leadership and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, RIP Medical Debt launched the "Helping COVID Heroes Fund" focused on relieving the medical debts of healthcare workers and emergency responders like nurses, home health aids, pharmacists, social workers, hospital technicians, the National Guard and others working on the front lines of the pandemic. It also benefits service workers and others facing financial hardship resulting from the COVID induced economic downturn. Through this effort RIP has abolished over $100 million in medical debt. Prior to joining RIP Medical Debt, Allison served as the Executive Director of the Human Services Council of New York (HSC), an association of 170 nonprofits delivering 90% of human services in New York City.

Under her leadership HSC pioneered the development of nationally recognized tools designed to illuminate risks associated with government contracts, including an RFP rater and government agency grading system. She led negotiations with New York City and State government on behalf of the sector and successfully pushed for over $500 million in investments to address the nonprofit fiscal crisis. During her tenure at HSC, Allison also led a commission of experts focused on social determinants of health and value-based-payment structures and published the report, Integrating Health and Human Services: a Blueprint for Partnership and Action, that examines the challenges of operationalizing relationships between health and human services providers, offering several recommendations. She also served on the New York State Department of Health's Social Determinants and Community Based Organizations (CBO) Subcommittee helping to formulate recommendations around the integration of CBOs into Medicaid managed care. Allison's work on behalf of the human services sector led City & State to recognize her as a top nonprofit leader in 2018 and 2019, one of the 25 most influential leaders in Manhattan in 2017, and one of New York City's 100 "Most Responsible" in 2016. She recently received the 100 "Most Responsible" award for the second time for her efforts at RIP Medical Debt.

Eva Marie Stahl

VP Public Policy, RIP Medical Debt

Eva Marie Stahl is the Director of Public Policy at RIP Medical Debt. Eva oversees development and implementation of RIP Medical Debt's policy work. She works closely with RIP's staff to ensure that beneficiaries' voices and experiences are centered in solutions that address the medical debt crisis. Prior to RIP, Eva was a leader in the health advocacy community for over a decade as Director of Policy & Partnerships at Community Catalyst. Eva was part of the senior leadership team responsible for developing state and federal policy agenda. During her tenure, she collaborated with national partners in coalition to advance health care affordability priorities. Eva also coordinated efforts to support health advocates and community partners advancing a health equity agenda that addresses social determinants of health, including economic security. Eva has a Ph.D. in social policy from Brandeis University and a master's degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.

Dr. Oxiris Barbot

President and CEO of United Hospital Fund and former NYC Health Commissioner, RIP Medical Debt Board Member

Dr. Oxiris Barbot is a nationally recognized physician, public health practitioner, and innovative leader at the intersection of public health, social justice, and health care delivery. She was recently named president and chief executive officer of United Hospital Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to realizing an effective and equitable health care system for every New Yorker. She is the first woman to serve as president since the organization's founding in 1879.

Dr. Barbot's career has been defined by service, scholarship, and a commitment to community health equity. She led New York City's successful response to the first wave of COVID-19. Her strategic decision-making, leadership of early action to address racial inequities, and clear and effective communication in both English and Spanish made a significant difference in public understanding, rapidly flattening the transmission curve and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable. She showed both integrity and courage in providing strong, science-based public health leadership in a politically charged environment. While commissioner she was named to the Crain's New York Business "Notable Women in Health Care" list and City & State New York's "Health Power 100" and "Nonprofit Power 100." 

Dr. Barbot is also adjunct assistant professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and was previously senior fellow for public health and social justice at The JPB Foundation. She received her undergraduate degree from Yale University, her medical degree from New Jersey Medical School, and completed her pediatric training at George Washington University - Children's National Medical Center.

Dr. Ram Raju

Former Senior Vice President with Northwell Health and CEO with NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, RIP Medical Debt Board Member

Ram Raju, MD, combines his executive leadership experience in health care with a deep commitment to achieving social equity to improve the health of communities in need. As the former senior vice president and community health investment officer, he evaluated the needs of Northwell Health’s most vulnerable communities, and provided solutions for them by collaborating with community-based organizations. He’s responsible for promoting, sustaining and advancing an environment that supports equity and diversity, and helping the health system eliminate health disparities.

Dr. Rishi Manchanda

CEO, HealthBegins

Dr. Rishi Manchanda is a physician, author, and healthcare leader who has spent more than a decade developing novel strategies to improve health in resource-poor communities. He has served as director of social medicine for a network of community health centers in South-Central Los Angeles, as the lead primary care physician for homeless veterans at the Greater Los Angeles VA, and as chief medical officer for a self-insured employer with a large rural immigrant workforce. In his 2013 TED Book, The Upstream Doctors, and 2014 TED Talk, he introduced readers and viewers to the Upstreamists, a new model of healthcare workers who improve care by addressing patients’ health-related social needs, such as food, financial, and housing insecurity. The talk has been viewed nearly 2 million times, and the book has become recommended reading in medical schools and universities across the world.

Noam Levey

Senior Correspondent, Kaiser Health News

Noam N. Levey is a Washington, D.C.,-based senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News, where he is currently producing "Diagnosis: Debt," a multi-part series on medical debt in the U.S. in collaboration with NPR and CBS News. Noam joined KHN in 2021 after 17 years at the Los Angeles Times, the last 12 as the paper’s national healthcare reporter based in Washington. He has reported on healthcare issues from more than three dozen states and four continents and won numerous honors, including the prestigious NIHCM award for his 2019 series "Inside America’s High-Deductible Revolution." Noam has also been published in Health Affairs, JAMA and Milbank Quarterly. He started his career at newspapers in Duluth, Minn., Montgomery, Ala., and the United Arab Emirates. Prior to the LA Times, Noam was an investigative reporter for the San Jose Mercury News. Noam has a degree in History and Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University. 

Jared Walker

CEO, Dollar For

Jared Walker founded Dollar For in 2012 in Portland, Oregon. Dollar For was born out of a desire to help folks in medical crisis after watching his own family's experience. A medical crisis should not lead to a financial crisis. Jared is on a mission to crush as many medical bills as he can while making Charity Care known, easy and fair. 

Berneta Haynes

Attorney, National Consumer Law Center (NCLC)

Berneta L. Haynes is a staff attorney at National Consumer Law Center, where she focuses on consumer energy policy and medical debt. She recently authored NCLC’s The Racial Health and Wealth Gap: Impact of Medical Debt on Black Families. Before joining NCLC, she served as a director at Georgia Watch, a state-based consumer advocacy organization in Atlanta, where she worked to make energy programs, quality healthcare, financial protection, and civil justice more equitable and accessible for all. Her duties included leading coalitions, steering the passage of crucial medical billing legislation, and authoring consumer-facing educational materials (such as the Georgia Consumer Guide for Medical Bills and Debt) and policy guides on healthcare billing. Previously, she practiced law at Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago and Southern Environmental Law Center in Atlanta. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in English, Writing, and Psychology from Drury University, her Master’s degree in English from University of Iowa, and her law degree from University of Iowa College of Law.

Dr. Veena Shankaran

Co-director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research & Professor, Fred Hutch

Dr. Veena Shankaran is co-director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research. Her research focuses on measuring the impact of cancer diagnosis and treatment on patients’ and caregivers’ finances and developing strategies to lessen this impact. She also conducts studies describing real-world treatment patterns and costs of care in the Puget Sound region and nationally. Dr. Shankaran is a medical oncologist who specializes in caring for patients with gastrointestinal malignancies with a particular focus on cancers of the esophagus and stomach. In collaboration with other gastrointestinal oncologists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Dr. Shankaran is helping to expand the gastrointestinal cancer clinical trials program to provide patients with novel treatment options. 

Dr. Ray Kluender

Economist, Harvard Business School and Faculty Affiliate at Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

Ray Kluender is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School and a faculty affiliate at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). His research focuses on the causes of financial distress among American households and how government, private insurance, and credit markets should function to insure those risks. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Economics, Mathematics, and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Rachana Pradhan

National Correspondent, Kaiser Health News

Rachana Pradhan, Correspondent, reports on a broad array of national health policy decisions and their effect on everyday Americans. She came to KHN from Politico, where for five years she covered health care policy and politics on national and state levels. Rachana has been involved in several high-impact projects in her time as a health care reporter, including an investigation into former HHS Secretary Tom Price’s extensive use of private jets at taxpayers’ expense. The investigation, which resulted in Price’s resignation, was a 2018 finalist for the American Society of News Editors’ O’Brien Fellowship Award and earned an honorable mention in the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Edgar A. Poe award. Rachana’s other reporting stints include covering city government for The Daily Progress newspaper in Charlottesville, Virginia, and reporting on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act for Inside Health Policy, a health care trade publication. She graduated from James Madison University.

Ruth Landé

VP of Hospital Relations, RIP Medical Debt

Ruth is a former hospital revenue cycle executive. She was the VP of revenue cycle at a world-renown academic cancer center, and at a community-based integrated health system. Her experience supports the need for systemic and policy changes to free both patients and providers from the complexities and inequities of our healthcare system.

Dr. Marty Makary

M.D., M.P.H., Chief, Islet Transplant Surgery, Professor of Surgery Johns Hopkins School of Medicine & author, The Price We Pay

Dr. Marty Makary is a New York Times bestselling author and health care expert at Johns Hopkins University. Marty is the recipient of the 2020 Business Book of the Year Award for his most recent book, The Price We Pay.

Dr. Makary served in leadership at the World Health Organization and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. A public health researcher, he leads a Johns Hopkins project on the "re-design of health care" to make health care more reliable, holistic, and coordinated, especially for vulnerable populations. He leads national efforts to increase medical transparency and lower health care costs for everyday businesses and consumers.

Clinically, Dr. Makary is the chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins and is the recipient of the Nobility in Science Award from the National Pancreas Foundation. He has been a visiting professor at over 25 medical schools, has published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles, and writes for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

Michael Waterbury

CEO, Goodroot

Mike Waterbury is one of healthcare’s most influential voices. Often referred to as the "Tenth Man of Healthcare" due to his grit and unwavering commitment to change the status quo, Waterbury takes a stand on the misaligned incentives, growing medical debt and legacy thinking that many industry leaders shy away from. His passion for an improved system—where insured individuals aren’t struggling to afford out-of-pocket healthcare costs—coupled with 25+ years of learnings at the top healthcare organizations in the U.S., led him to found Goodroot, a community of companies focused on reinventing healthcare—and the systems that no longer serve us.

As President and CEO of Goodroot, Waterbury is focused on freeing and amplifying the talent that’s trapped within the industry. He brings visionary leaders, innovators, and seasoned healthcare experts together to champion private companies focused on making healthcare affordable and accessible through innovation. Goodroot acts as an umbrella company, aiding its affiliates with the necessary capital, finance, legal, HR, sales, and marketing support to scale. Waterbury plays a key role in overseeing the launch and growth of each affiliate company.

Boasting nine successful companies since his entrepreneurial debut, Waterbury’s leadership has been invaluable to Goodroot’s continued expansion and marketplace prominence. For its ongoing work to increase access and affordability in the healthcare industry, Goodroot received a 2022 Real Leaders Impact Award, which recognizes companies driven by a sense of humanitarian capitalism that have found a path where they can do well while doing good for humanity. Goodroot ranks No. 51 on the 2022 list of the top 200 impact companies, alongside many healthcare heavyweights and other notable trailblazers.

Katherine Lucas McKay

Associate Director, Insights and Evidence, Financial  Security Program, Aspen Institute

Katherine Lucas McKay (she/they) is the Associate Director of Insights and Evidence at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program. Katherine leads the research of Aspen FSP's Future of Wealth Initiative. Her work at Aspen has also focused on housing security, consumer debt, student loans, inclusive saving strategies. Ms. Lucas McKay was previously the Associate Director of Government Affairs at Prosperity Now, where she led the organization’s policy work on homeownership, entrepreneurship, and consumer financial protection. 

Katherine holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School of Public Policy and Information Systems and a BA from Wellesley College. She is the Chair of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board of Montgomery County, Maryland. Katherine’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vox, CNN, CNBC, and Greater Washington.

Priscilla Keith

Vice President, Program Management, RIP Medical Debt

Priscilla Thomas Keith has extensive experience in government, pharmaceutical research and clinical trials, health care and public health law and policy, and academia. She started her career as a research scientist studying Alzheimer’s disease and Ischemia at Lilly. While at Lilly, she also had corporate assignments in Environmental Affairs and Medical Affairs managing diabetes clinical trials. Upon receiving her law degree, Ms. Keith served as Deputy Attorney General in litigation and Section Chief of Advisory with responsibility for advisory opinions and contracts during her tenure at the Indiana Attorney General’s Office. She was also Assistant Counsel to Governor O’Bannon as well as executive assistant for the Women’s Commission, Department of Insurance, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, and State Board of Accounts.

Following her passion for public health and health care law, Ms. Keith became General Counsel for Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County and the Marion County Public Health Department.

Ms. Keith was recruited by the late Professor Eleanor Kinney to serve as Executive Director for the Hall Center for Law and Research and Adjunct Faculty at IU McKinney School of law where she taught Public Health Law, Finance and Health Care Law, Health care Compliance and Secured Transactions. Ms. Keith also has extensive experience in Community Benefit/Corporate Social Responsibility issues.

Ms. Keith has received numerous awards, including Indiana’s highest award, the Sagamore of the Wabash; a tribute bestowed by the governor to those who have rendered distinguished service to the state. She has participated in various leadership programs and served on several Boards and Commissions such as Indiana State Ethics Commission, Indianapolis Board of Public Works, and the Fort Benjamin Harrison YMCA, to name a few.

She is a graduate of Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University with a BS and MS in Biology, respectively. She is also a graduate of IU McKinney School of Law.

Ms. Keith currently serves as RIP Medical Debt’s Director of Program Management, a position in which she ensures smooth coordination between RIP’s functional departments in delivering program results. A primary focus is leading cross-functional teams from the time of medical debt procurement to its abolishment.

Her areas of focus are Public Health and Health Equity, Health Care Law and Policy, and Corporate Governance and Risk.

She enjoys reading, solving puzzles, running and cooking.

Allison Sesso

President / CEO, RIP Medical Debt

Allison Sesso became the President / CEO of RIP Medical Debt in January of 2020. RIP Medical Debt was established for the sole purpose of reducing the medical debt burdens of low-income individuals with limited capacity to pay their medical bills by leveraging donations from people across the country. They have abolished $6,748,483,828 to date for over 3,619,950 people. Under Allison's leadership and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, RIP Medical Debt launched the "Helping COVID Heroes Fund" focused on relieving the medical debts of healthcare workers and emergency responders like nurses, home health aids, pharmacists, social workers, hospital technicians, the National Guard and others working on the front lines of the pandemic. It also benefits service workers and others facing financial hardship resulting from the COVID induced economic downturn. Through this effort RIP has abolished over $100 million in medical debt. Prior to joining RIP Medical Debt, Allison served as the Executive Director of the Human Services Council of New York (HSC), an association of 170 nonprofits delivering 90% of human services in New York City.

Under her leadership HSC pioneered the development of nationally recognized tools designed to illuminate risks associated with government contracts, including an RFP rater and government agency grading system. She led negotiations with New York City and State government on behalf of the sector and successfully pushed for over $500 million in investments to address the nonprofit fiscal crisis. During her tenure at HSC, Allison also led a commission of experts focused on social determinants of health and value-based-payment structures and published the report, Integrating Health and Human Services: a Blueprint for Partnership and Action, that examines the challenges of operationalizing relationships between health and human services providers, offering several recommendations. She also served on the New York State Department of Health's Social Determinants and Community Based Organizations (CBO) Subcommittee helping to formulate recommendations around the integration of CBOs into Medicaid managed care. Allison's work on behalf of the human services sector led City & State to recognize her as a top nonprofit leader in 2018 and 2019, one of the 25 most influential leaders in Manhattan in 2017, and one of New York City's 100 "Most Responsible" in 2016. She recently received the 100 "Most Responsible" award for the second time for her efforts at RIP Medical Debt.