Jackie Bender, MPP

Jackie Bender is a seasoned policy expert with nearly 20 years of experience in federal, state, and local health policy, the last decade of which has been centered in California. Her state work has focused on Medicaid waivers, public hospital and county financing, Medicaid DSH, cross-county collaboration, and the impact of social services and housing interventions on safety-net populations.

She led the development of a $3 billion Whole Person Care Medicaid 1115 waiver program in California and supported multiple counties in implementing this six-year initiative. Under the successor program called CalAIM, Ms. Bender supported Los Angeles County in implementing Medicaid managed care housing support within its existing homelessness infrastructure.

Before working in California, Ms. Bender served as a Congressional aide to a senior member of the U.S. House Ways and Means and House Budget Committees, emphasizing Medicare policy for low-income populations. Ms. Bender received her Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and her B.A. in Political Science from George Washington University.