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Miriam Harmatz, Co-Executive Director
Miriam, one of Florida’s leading Medicaid advocates, is a former senior health law attorney at Florida Legal Services and adjunct professor in the Health Law Clinic at Florida International University College of Law. As a young child with a health issue, Miriam learned that everyone must have insurance and that healthcare is a human right. She wrote her senior college thesis on why Congress failed to pass a national health insurance bill in 1974, and as a legal services attorney for 30 years she focused on ensuring access to healthcare for her clients.
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Miriam has been lead counsel on multiple federal court cases resulting in statewide relief for Medicaid beneficiaries. These successful outcomes, including federal court cases of first impression and with national import, are the result of highly collaborative work with national experts, Florida legal aid lawyers and pro bono attorneys. On a local level, Miriam led collaborative efforts that improved access and transparency at Miami-Dade County’s publicly funded hospital. This work includes administrative complaints successfully challenging outpatient and inpatient admission deposit policies, discrimination against foreign born county residents, and violations of consumer protections provided under the ACA, the first complaint of its kind in the nation.
Because Florida has not yet expanded Medicaid under the ACA, Miriam has focused on outreach and education detailing the tremendous human and economic benefits of extending coverage and the adverse impacts in failing to do so. And since the 2016 election, she has been part of the massive advocacy effort devoted to defending the ACA and Medicaid.
Because Florida has not yet expanded Medicaid under the ACA, Miriam has focused on outreach and education detailing the tremendous human and economic benefits of extending coverage and the adverse impacts in failing to do so. And since the 2016 election, she has been part of the massive advocacy effort devoted to defending the ACA and Medicaid.
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Katy DeBriere, Co-Executive Director
Katy, managing attorney of the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership (NFMLP), is a highly regarded and committed health lawyer. Like Miriam, she has experience both in identifying and addressing systemic issues through impact litigation and in representing a large number of individual clients with Medicaid eligibility and services issues.
Katy began her legal career in 2008 as an Equal Justice Works fellow. Her two year fellowship generated several state court of appeals successes, two 42 U.S.C. 1983 suits, and culminated in a successful facial constitutional challenge to a state statutory scheme for the commitment of persons with developmental disabilities. |
Within a year of being hired to direct the NFMLP, Katy secured significant funding for the partnership-- the first time external funding has been obtained in the project’s 12-year history. Katy has taken a lead role in developing a statewide medical legal partnership (MLP) network and recently received funding to provide a series of webinars on public benefits programs available to low income Floridians, including the Medicaid program.
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Matt Childers, Director of Research and PolicyMatt is a political scientist with expertise in political and social behavior, public opinion, survey research, government institutions, research design, and data analysis. He has over twelve years of experience conducting public opinion research on economic and health policy issues in national, state, and local elections.
His research has been published in leading political science and medical journals including Political Behavior, Political Research Quarterly, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and the Journal of Affective Disorders. |
Matt is available to work with partners on research and strategic efforts that will improve understanding of publicly funded health care programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, the ACA and CHIP and their impact in Florida.
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Troy Elder, Legal ConsultantTroy Elder, a lawyer, law professor, and community- and faith-based activist, has long worked at the intersection of access to healthcare and human rights. After practicing for 5 years with major New York law firms, in 2000 he relocated to Miami to work on poverty, health, and immigration issues at Legal Services of Greater Miami and Catholic Charities Legal Services in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood.
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He later founded and directed pioneering medical-legal partnerships at the University of Miami and Florida International University (FIU). More recently, while teaching at Yale, Troy co-led a medical-legal group to Haiti to interview victims of that country's cholera crisis, laying the groundwork for subsequent litigation against the United Nations.
His academic writing, which includes the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics’ Poor Clients, Informed Consent, and the Ethics of Rejection (2007), has been cited by the Harvard Law Review.
Troy, who speaks Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole. currently works in Los Angeles' diverse interfaith community on immigrants’ rights issues, with a particular focus on unaccompanied Central American child migrants. Having taught and practiced in the areas of health law, immigration law, poverty law, elder law, and international human rights, Troy is available to provide case reviews, supervision, and technical assistance to Florida's legal aid and medical legal partnership staff attorneys.
His academic writing, which includes the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics’ Poor Clients, Informed Consent, and the Ethics of Rejection (2007), has been cited by the Harvard Law Review.
Troy, who speaks Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole. currently works in Los Angeles' diverse interfaith community on immigrants’ rights issues, with a particular focus on unaccompanied Central American child migrants. Having taught and practiced in the areas of health law, immigration law, poverty law, elder law, and international human rights, Troy is available to provide case reviews, supervision, and technical assistance to Florida's legal aid and medical legal partnership staff attorneys.
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Nancy Leichter, Director of Development and Special ProjectsNancy Leichter is a highly accomplished business and media professional with a history of social justice action and a passionate belief that healthcare is a human right. In her 30+ year career in radio broadcasting, Nancy managed several of Los Angeles’ largest and most iconic radio properties; including KMET (Sales Manager), Pirate Radio and 92.3 (100.3) The BEAT. Her work included overseeing everything from Sales to Marketing to Promotions to Community Action, as well as managing the start up and launch of multiple radio formats and entities.
After retiring from broadcasting, Nancy worked for Organizing for America and Organizing for Action in Communications and Media. Her work focused on media and messaging regarding the Affordable Care Act’s passage, implementation, and defense. She also worked in Development at City Year Philadelphia. |
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Blanca Mesa, Director of Client Outreach and CommunicationsBlanca is an attorney, journalist, and communication expert. Blanca, a former Legal Services of Greater Miami public benefits attorney, also worked as the Communications Director for the Mayor of Miami-Dade County.
After the ACA was implemented, she worked as a licensed federal navigator for the ACA health marketplace. She recently helped develop and manage a story bank of over 150 Floridians in the coverage gap willing to speak with the press. |
Blanca has a strong history of public service and community involvement. In 2016, she was named “Best Citizen” by Miami New Times and in 2017, Miami Today newspaper honored her as “Best of Miami” for her community environmental work.
Blanca is available to work on documenting the stories of individual low income Floridians willing to engage on outreach and education regarding Medicaid, as well as other safety net programs that impact the social determinants of health.
Blanca is available to work on documenting the stories of individual low income Floridians willing to engage on outreach and education regarding Medicaid, as well as other safety net programs that impact the social determinants of health.
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The Florida Health Justice Project, a new nonprofit advocacy organization, seeks to improve access to affordable healthcare for Floridians, with a focus on vulnerable low-income populations.
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A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL FREE WITHIN THE STATE AT 1-800-435-7352 . IT CAN ALSO BE FOUND AT WWW.800HELPFLA.COM. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL OR RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE STATE.