Events

Purpose: 

As part of this year’s LGBTQ+ Enrollment Week of Action (June 6th-12th), NCTE and partners want to highlight the availability of affordable health insurance for the transgender community through HealthCare.gov. Transgender people can enroll in affordable health insurance now until August 15th during the current Marketplace Special Enrollment Period (SEP). This webinar will focus on the health insurance enrollment process for the transgender community, the new financial help available under the American Rescue Plan, and how to navigate coverage and care. The goal is to empower trans people to find and enroll in the health insurance they need, provide resources to reduce barriers in accessing high quality health care, and raise awareness of the current SEP.

Length: 60 minutes (~15 minutes for questions)

Katie Keith, JD, MPH, is a steering committee member of Out2Enroll, a national initiative dedicated to outreach and education for LGBT people under the Affordable Care Act. She also maintains a part-time faculty appointment as a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms and teaches courses on the Affordable Care Act and LGBT health law and policy at Georgetown University Law Center. She specializes in state and federal implementation of the ACA and provides “Following the ACA” rapid response analysis for Health Affairs. She is an appointed consumer representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and advises nonprofits and foundations on health care issues.

Noah E. Lewis, Esq. is director of the Trans Health Project at Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, where he was previously a staff attorney for six years. Noah’s work focuses on eliminating barriers to insurance coverage for trans-related health care. Some of his active cases include challenging a transgender exclusion in the North Carolina state employee health plan and the repeal of nondiscrimination regulations under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. In 2005, Noah was the first openly transgender student to graduate from Harvard Law School, where he worked to eliminate trans health exclusions in student and staff health plans.

Brandon G. Wilson, DrPH, MHA. After nearly 20 years in HIV programming, research, and policy, including leading the recruitment and retention strategy for diverse populations in phase I and II HIV and infectious diseases preventative and therapeutic vaccine clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health (NIAID), Dr. Brandon G. Wilson joined the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in 2015 as a Lean Lead Ambassador for the Prevention and Population Health Group and a Project Officer on the Health Care Innovations Awards (HCIA) Model. Later, as a Lead Project Officer on the Accountable Health Communities Model (AHC), Dr. Wilson served as the Lead on the AHC screening tool and screening guide, led stakeholder engagement with federal partners, and was the team’s Lead on health equity. Dr. Wilson also spearheaded, developed, and led the Prevention and Population Health Group’s Health Equity Working Group at CMMI

Dr. Wilson completed his Masters in Health Systems Management from George Mason University and his Doctorate of Public Health at Morgan State University, where his dissertation was on culturally adapting NIH’s PROMIS-29 profile for and with Black Sexual and Gender Minorities living with HIV/AIDS in the US. His research interests include using psychometrics and health economics outcomes research to evaluate and reduce health disparities and health inequities in vulnerable populations. He is currently a Public Health Advisor at CMS’ Office of Minority Health, where he leads the agency’s efforts on SOGI data collection, policy efforts in post-acute care (nursing homes, home health, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term care hospitals, and hospice), CMMI models and demonstrations, and oversee activities to strengthen the health equity business case. Dr. Wilson also holds a Health Sciences faculty appointment at Purdue University.

Sharita Gruberg (she/her) is the Vice President of the LGBTQ Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress. In that role, she leads the organization’s work advancing LGBTQ equality and combating discrimination. Prior to joining CAP, Sharita worked for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees helping to bring people fleeing persecution, including LGBTQ refugees, to safety. Sharita earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and she also received the Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies Certificate from the Institute for the Study of International Migration. She holds a B.A. in political science and women’s studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sharita was recognized by the National LGBT Bar Association as one of the 40 Best LGBTQ+ Attorneys Under the Age of 40 in 2019. Her research and commentary has been featured on NPR as well as in the New York Times, USA Today, NBC News, Reuters, and other outlets.