JANE B. WISHNER Senior Research Associate The Urban Institute Health Policy Center 2100 M St. NW • Washington, DC 20037 • 202.261.5614 • jwishner@urban.org Education 1977 B.A. in Government, Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude Senior Honors Thesis: Congress, the Supreme Court and School Desegregation 1983 J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley Career Brief Ms. Wishner is a qualitative researcher and health policy analyst whose work focuses primarily on health reform implementation, consumer protections, private market regulatory issues, and health coverage. She began her career as a research associate on the national staff of Common Cause, attended law school at UC Berkeley and returned to Washington, D.C. to serve as a law clerk to Judge Abner J. Mikva at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Ms. Wishner spent over 20 years as a litigator, including as a white collar prosecutor for the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office and as one of three founding shareholders of a law firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ms. Wishner had a diverse litigation practice that included class actions, civil rights cases on behalf of persons with developmental disabilities, and a wide variety of commercial and other civil actions. Throughout her time in private practice, Ms. Wishner was deeply engaged in community activities, including policy work on behalf of national nonprofit organizations, where she developed an expertise in reproductive rights, church-­‐state, and civil rights issues. In 2005, Ms. Wishner left the private practice of law to start the Southwest Women’s Law Center in Albuquerque. Under her leadership, the Center focused on reproductive rights, healthcare coverage and access, domestic violence and gender equality. Ms. Wishner created and led the New Mexico Consumer Stakeholder Advisory Committee on Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation, testified before state executive branch and legislative committees on implementation and conducted trainings regarding the ACA. She prepared comments on proposed federal regulations and worked closely with consumer advocates, state officials, and other stakeholders on health insurance exchange development, consumer outreach and assistance, consumer protections and rate review. She prepared policy briefs on various aspects of the ACA and worked on a variety of Medicaid issues, particularly pertaining to women’s health and to the state’s proposed Section 1115 Waiver. Ms. Wishner left the Southwest Women’s Law Center in early 2012 to focus exclusively on policy and regulatory work related to ACA implementation and healthcare access. In the fall of 2013, Ms. Wishner moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a Senior Staff Attorney at the National Health Law Program on a project related to consumer enrollment during the first year of Open Enrollment. She joined the Urban Institute in 2014. Professional Background 2014 – Present: Senior Research Associate, Health Policy Center, The Urban Institute. Qualitative researcher and health policy analyst focusing primarily on health reform implementation, consumer protections, private market regulatory issues, and health coverage. 2013 – 2014: Senior Staff Attorney, National Health Program (Washington, D.C.). Served as Policy Manager for a national project connecting enrollment assisters Jane B. Wishner Page 2 nationwide to help them effectively enroll families in Medicaid, CHIP and the new QHPs. 2012 – 2013: Health Law and Policy Consultant – work included analyzing and preparing comments on federal regulations, consulting with the NM Medical Insurance Pool (which ran both the federal and state high risk pools) on health insurance exchange development and transitioning clients to Medicaid and QHPs, planning and training to engage legal services providers in ACA implementation under the NM Office of the Superintendent of Insurance’s federal Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) grant, and analyzing the impact of New Mexico’s proposed Section 1115 Waiver on women’s health services. 2005 – 2012: Founder and first Executive Director of the Southwest Women’s Law Center in Albuquerque, NM. Focused on systemic policy work in the areas of domestic violence, Title IX athletics equity in high schools, and women’s access to comprehensive reproductive health services and health care coverage. 1990 – 2005: Peifer, Hanson & Mullins, P.A. in Albuquerque, NM (originally Browning, Peifer & Wishner, P.A.). Founding shareholder of the firm with (now federal judge) James Browning and Charles Peifer. Became of counsel to the firm in late 1991 to balance work and family. Represented diverse clients in a wide array of commercial, civil and civil rights lawsuits, focusing particularly on large complex cases, including class actions. 1987 – 1990: Assistant Attorney General, Special Prosecutions Division, New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. Prosecuted white collar and political corruption cases. 1985 – 1987: Litigation Associate, Jackson Tufts Cole & Black (San Francisco) 1983 – 1984: Law Clerk to the Honorable Abner J. Mikva, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 1977-­‐1980: Research Associate, National Office of Common Cause (Washington, D.C.) Awards and Honors • Humanitarian Award, Jewish Community Center of Albuquerque (2010) •
Recipient of Sage Magazine’s Award to 20 New Mexico Women who Make a Difference to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Albuquerque Journal’s Women’s Magazine (2009) Community and Professional Leadership Experience • Board of Trustees of the University of New Mexico Hospital (community representative appointed by the Bernalillo County Commission to focus in particular on the needs of the underserved and uninsured) Jane B. Wishner Page 3 • New Mexico Access to Justice Commission (ATJ) (appointed by NM Supreme Court) which addresses the need for legal services among low-­‐income New Mexicans; also served on the ATJ’s Systems Planning and Pro Bono Committees • Advisory Board to Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need, a coalition of advocates working for effective implementation of health care reform to meet the needs of women and their families • Leadership Council of the Albuquerque Alliance for Health Care Quality, part of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s National Aligning Forces for Quality initiative; served as Albuquerque’s consumer representative to the AF4Q national conference in May 2011 • Organizer and initial Chair, Consumer Stakeholder Advisory Committee to the NM Office of Health Care Reform and to the New Mexico legislative work group on ACA implementation • Member, Market Regulation work group of the NM Exchange Advisory Task Force • Member, New Mexico Domestic Violence Leadership Commission • Extensive public speaking experience, including trainings and continuing legal education seminars • National Chair, Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, the public policy arm of the Reform Jewish movement and its Religious Action Center in Washington, DC; also chaired the Women and Minorities and Domestic Policy Task Forces. • Served on numerous boards and in other leadership positions in nonprofit organizations in New Mexico and nationally Health Policy Publications Wishner, J, Holahan, J, Upadhyay, D and McGrath, M, Medicaid Expansion, the Private Option, and Personal Responsibility Requirements: The Use of Section 1115 Waivers to Implement Medicaid Expansion under the ACA. Washington: Urban Institute, (published May 2015). http://www.urban.org/research/publication/medicaid-­‐expansion-­‐private-­‐option-­‐and-­‐personal-­‐
responsibility-­‐requirements Wishner, J, Ahn, S, Lucia, K and Gadsden, S , Special Enrollment Periods in 2014: A Study of Select States. Washington: Urban Institute, (February 2015). http://www.urban.org/research/publication/special-­‐
enrollment-­‐periods-­‐2014-­‐study-­‐select-­‐states Wishner, J, Spencer, A, and Wengle, E, Analyzing Different Enrollment Outcomes in Select States that Used the Federally Facilitated Marketplace in 2014. Washington: Urban Institute, (November 2014). http://www.urban.org/research/publication/analyzing-­‐different-­‐enrollment-­‐outcomes-­‐select-­‐states-­‐
used-­‐federally-­‐facilitated-­‐marketplace-­‐2014 Jane B. Wishner Page 4 The following publications were funded and published electronically by Con Alma Health Foundation and its Blueprint for Health New Mexico Initiative • Wishner, Jane, and Kyle Marie Stock, “Consumer Navigators under the Affordable Care Act: Building a Community-­‐Based, Patient-­‐Centered System in New Mexico to Support Greater Healthcare Access and Coverage.” Southwest Women’s Law Center, August 31, 2011. • Wishner, Jane, and Kyle Marie Stock, “Consumer Protections and Insurance Reforms under the Affordable Care Act: Maximizing Benefits to All New Mexicans.” Southwest Women’s Law Center, August 31, 2011. • Wishner, Jane, and Kyle Marie Stock, “Accountable Care Organizations and Federal Healthcare Reform: A Search for New Payment Models That Will Provide Better Care, Improve Health Outcomes and Reduce Costs.” Southwest Women’s Law Center, August 31, 2011. Other Publications Foltin, Richard, ed. 1994. Religious Liberty in the 1990’s, The Religion Clauses under the Rehnquist Court: A Consultation. New York: The American Jewish Committee. Authored forward and served as co-­‐chair of a two-­‐day consultation with leading church-­‐state legal scholars and experts held in the fall of 1992, which is summarized in this publication. Wishner, Jane, ed. 1993. Abortion and the States: Political Change and Future Regulation. Chicago: American Bar Association Section of Urban, State and Local Government Law. Also authored a chapter in the book, “The Changing Politics of Abortion.” Wishner, Jane. 1980. The Government Subsidy Squeeze: How the Special Interest State Fuels Inflation. Washington, D.C.: Common Cause. Common Cause. 1979. “How Money Talks in Congress: a Common Cause Study of the Impact of Money on Congressional Decisionmaking. Washington D.C. Authored the chapters on lobby disclosure and financial disclosure. Wishner, Jane. 1979. “The General Services Administration” in Adams, Bruce and Kathryn Kavanagh Baran, Promise and Performance: Carter Builds a New Administration. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books.