Benjamin Sommers | Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Princeton University, Princeton, NJ	BA	2000	English
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA	PhD	2005	Health Policy (Economics Concentration)
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA	MD	2007	Medicine
Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, MA		2010	Residency - Internal Medicine & Primary Care

awards and honors

2006

AcademyHealth National Dissertation Award

2007

Daniel E. Ford Award in Health Services Research

2007

Robert Ebert Award in Primary Care Medicine

2010

Resident Mentor Award

2010

Best Residents and Fellows at Harvard Medical School

2011

Faculty Mentor Award

2011

Best Oral Presentation in Scientific Abstracts

2012

Hamolsky Award

2013

Teaching Citation

2015

AcademyHealth Alice Hersh New Investigator Award

2015

AcademyHealth Article of the Year Award

2015

SGIM Outstanding Junior Investigator

2017

AcademyHealth Impact Award for Health Services Research

2019

National Academy of Medicine - Elected Member

2022

CMS Program Impact Award

2023

ScholarGPS #1 Ranked Scholar on Health Insurance

2024

Roger L. Nichols Excellence in Teaching Award

Overview

overview

Dr. Sommers is a health economist and a physician whose main research interests are health policy for vulnerable populations, the uninsured, and the health care safety net. He is the Huntley Quelch Professor of Health Care Economics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the Outstanding Dissertation Award, Alice Hersh New Investigator Award, the 2015 Article-of-the-Year Award, and the 2017 Health Services Research Impact Award from AcademyHealth, a preeminent national association of health policy researchers; and the Outstanding Junior Investigator Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019. His research has been published in leading journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Journal of Health Economics, and Health Affairs. His research has been profiled in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and National Public Radio. He has testified before Congress and advised state Medicaid programs.

Dr. Sommers has served in the federal government in multiple leadership roles. In January 2021, he was appointed by President Biden as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and he served in that role until early 2023. From 2022-2023, he was appointed to lead ASPE as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Assistant Secretary. Previously, he served as a Senior Advisor in ASPE from 2011-2016, and he served in a part-time capacity as a Senior Counselor to the Assistant Secretary in 2023.

He received a PhD in Health Policy from Harvard and an MD from Harvard Medical School.

Teaching
HPM 211: The Health Care Safety Net and Vulnerable Populations
Course Catalog Description
Course Webpage (HarvardKey Login Required)

HPM 545: Economics of Health Care: Public vs. Market Resolutions
Course Catalog Description
Course Webpage (HarvardKey Login Required)

U.S. Health Policy (Harvard X Open Enrollment Course), Medicaid Lecture
Course Webpage (Free registration)

webpage

	Faculty Website
	Academic Profile
	CV
	Government Reports (Selected)
	Media Links

media links

	NY Times. “Trump’s Alternative for Obamacare Is Now Just ‘Concepts of a Plan.’” (Sept 2024)
	Mississippi Today. “Experts Dispel Fears that Medicaid Expansion is Too Costly for Mississippi.” (April 2024)
	NY Times. “Americans Are Signing Up for Obamacare in Record Numbers.” (Dec 2023)
	Axios. “HHS reports significant increase in Black, Latino ACA health care enrollment since 2020.” (Oct 2022)
	Bloomberg. “Return of Obama Staffers to HHS Brings ‘Wealth of Knowledge.'” (Jan 2021)
	NY Times. “Obamacare, in Its First Big Test as Safety Net, Is Holding Up So Far.” (Dec 2020)
	STAT. Op-Ed. “The Trump administration’s ‘public charge’ rule and Covid-1: bad policy at the worst t (Aug 2020)
	Fox 25 News. TV Interview. “Study by Boston researchers shows racial disparities among COVID-19 cases.” (Aug 2020)
	CNBC (Video). “Why the U.S. is Facing a Hospital Bed Shortage.” (Apr 2020)
	Los Angeles Times. “Coronavirus forces reckoning for Trump’s healthcare cuts.” (Mar 2020)
	Boston Globe. Op-Ed. “The Perils of a Patchwork System.” (Dec 2019)
	Wall St Journal. “The Medicaid Experiment in Arkansas: Thousands Lost Coverage, Few Gained Jobs.” (Oct 2019)
	Boston NPR CommonHealth. Op-Ed (joint with Amal Trivedi) “Medicaid Won The Midterms. Here’s Why That Could Save Lives.” (Nov 2018)
	Vox. “Medicaid’s Stunning Victory.” (Nov 2018)
	Los Angeles Times. “Medicaid Strategy Favored by Trump May Make Care Less Affordable, New Studies Indicate.” (Jun 2018)
	Newsweek. “Obamacare Improved Surgical Treatment, Likely Saved Lives, New Study Finds.” (Apr 2018)
	New York Times. “Medicaid Worsens Your Health? That’s a Classic Misinterpretation of Research.” (Jul 2017)
	USA Today. Op-Ed. “Weigh Facts Before You Gut ACA.” (Jun 2017)
	CNN. TV Interview. “What doctors think about the Affordable Care Act.” (Jan 2017)
	Boston Globe. Op-Ed (joint with Jonathan Gruber). “Repealing the Affordable Care Act — fact vs. fiction” (Dec 2016)
	New York Times. “Obamacare Appears to Be Making People Healthier.” (Aug 2016)
	New York Times. “How to Stop the Bouncing Between Insurance Plans Under Obamacare.” (Mar 2016)
	Los Angeles Times. “Obamacare helping improve access to medical care for the poor, new studies show." (Jan 2016)
	New York Times. “Better Health Care Access in Kentucky and Arkansas, Study Says.” (Jan 2016)
	USA Today. “Obamacare reduces uninsured rates, improves access to care, study finds.” (Jul 2015)
	Washington Post. “Health insurers may be finding new ways to discriminate against patients.” (Jan 2015)
	New York Times. “Medicaid, Often Criticized, Is Quite Popular With Its Customers.” (Oct 2014)
	New York Times. “In Texarkana, Uninsured and on the Wrong Side of a State Line.” (Jun 2014)
	New York Times. “Mortality Drop Seen to Follow ’06 Health Law.” (May 2014)
	MSNBC Melissa Harris-Perry Show. TV Interview. (May 2014)
	Boston Globe. “Study calls wide Massachusetts coverage a lifesaver.” (May 2014)
	Politico. “Study probes Obamacare impact on canceled plans.” (Apr 2014)
	Washington Post. “White, older and self-employed people want to keep their health plans.” (Apr 2014)
	National Journal. “Considering Medicaid Expansion for Your State? Read This Study.” (Jan 2014)
	USA Today. “Momentum builds for Medicaid expansion in states.” (Jan 2014)
	Los Angeles Times. “Some could have gaps in medical coverage under new law.” (May 2013)
	New York Times. “Medicaid Expansion May Lower Death Rate, Study Says.” (Jul 2012)
	Wall Street Journal. “Death Rates Vary in Medicaid Study.” (Jul 2012)
	Washington Post. “How Many Americans will gain insurance under health reform? Good question.” (Oct 2011)
	National Public Radio, interview. “How Much Do States Really Spend On Medicaid?” (Jul 2011)
	U.S. News and World Report. “With Health Care Reform, Income Swings May Mean Loss of Coverage.” (Feb 2011)
	Slate. “Dead giveaway: Why don’t more Americans use their free health insurance?” (Dec 2010)

Research

research activities and funding

The research activities and funding listed below are automatically derived from NIH ExPORTER and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing items. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

Most Recent | List All

R01MD014970 (LAYTON, TIMOTHY) Jan 7, 2020 - Nov 30, 2024

NIH

Work Requirements and Health Care Disparities in Medicaid: A RandomizedControlled Trial

Role: Principal Investigator
20171081 (SOMMERS, BENJAMIN D) Oct 1, 2017 - Sep 30, 2018

Commonwealth Fund

Examining Alternative Models of Medicaid Expansion: Assessing the Healthy Indiana Program
74560 (SOMMERS, BENJAMIN D) Sep 1, 2017 - Dec 31, 2018

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Using the Gallup Well-Being Index as an Early Monitoring System for Coverage and Access to Care After Changes to the Affordable Care Act
K02HS021291 (SOMMERS, BENJAMIN D) Sep 1, 2012 - Aug 31, 2018

NIH

Medicaid Policy, Coverage, and Access to Care Among Low-Income Americans Under He

Role: Principal Investigator
R03HS019754 (SOMMERS, BENJAMIN D) Sep 15, 2010 - Sep 14, 2011

NIH

Policy and Demographic Predictors of Medicaid Take-Up Among Non-Elderly Adults

Role: Principal Investigator

Bibliographic

selected publications

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