Matt Powers

Matt Powers, a managing director at Health Management Associates and a former Illinois Medicaid administrator, provides expert consultation on a variety of Medicaid policy and financing projects. Mr. Powers helped develop a Section 1115 waiver for the Cook County Health and Hospitals System that provided early coverage for individuals who would otherwise not have been eligible until 2014 under the ACA. He currently works on a variety of projects to help providers, foundations, and others implement policies that strike an appropriate balance between controlling costs and maintaining patient access.

As administrator of medical programs for the Illinois Department of Public Aid (now the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services), Mr. Powers led the $8 billion division, which provided health care for 1.7 million Illinois residents. During his tenure, Illinois obtained the nation’s first Medicaid Pharmacy Plus waiver and substantially increased enrollments in Medicaid and in the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Immediately before joining HMA, he headed a health care consulting practice with a special focus on Medicaid, Medicare, and the uninsured population. He was a frequent conference presenter and provided technical assistance and training to numerous health care providers, advocates, and government agencies. Mr. Powers has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.