Nieman Watchdog > About Us > Contributor

Judith Stein
jstein@medicareadvocacy.org

Judith Stein founded the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc., in 1986 where she is currently the Executive Director. Ms. Stein has focused on legal representation of the elderly since beginning her legal career in 1975. From 1977 until 1986, she was the Co-Director of Legal Assistance to Medicare Patients (LAMP), where she managed the first Medicare advocacy program in the country. She has extensive experience in developing and administering Medicare advocacy projects, representing Medicare beneficiaries, producing educational materials, teaching and consulting. She has been lead or co-counsel in federal class action and individual cases challenging improper Medicare policies and denials.

Ms. Stein graduated cum laude from Williams College in 1972 and received her law degree with honors from Catholic University School of Law in 1975. She is the editor and co-author of numerous books, articles, and other electronic and print publications regarding Medicare and related issues, including the Medicare Handbook (Aspen Publishers, Inc., 2008; updated annually). She has appeared as a Medicare expert on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “Now” on PBS, numerous public radio shows, Kaiser Family Foundation webcasts, and many other forums throughout the country.

Ms. Stein is a Fellow and Past President of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), a former Commissioner of the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), and a recipient of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA, now CMS) “Beneficiary Services Certificate of Merit”. She was appointed by Senator Chris Dodd as a delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, received the “2006 Agewise Advocate Award” from the Connecticut Commission on Aging, and serves on the executive committee of the Connecticut Elder Action Network.

Contributions

A reporter's checklist for the impending Obamacare ruling
ASK THIS | June 18, 2012
Health care expert Judith Stein, director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, offers reporters and editors a checklist for stories when the Roberts Court's ruling is released.

What’s lost if the Supreme Court kills the health care reform act?
COMMENTARY | March 29, 2012
Medicare advocate Judith Stein, dealing with the substance of the Affordable Care Act and not the politics, describes how millions of Americans of all ages already have benefited from health care reform. She urges the press to do a better job telling this part of the story – now and after the court decision. (Editor’s note: John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy, please read.)

Six serious proposals to protect Medicare
COMMENTARY | June 11, 2011
The Center for Medicare Advocacy offers six measures to protect Medicare as we know it and reduce costs at the same time. They are so reasonable, and so obvious, that they probably won’t stand a chance with Congress. We thought we’d pass them along nevertheless.

Do warnings about a public option sound familiar?
COMMENTARY | August 24, 2009
To Medicare advocate Judith Stein, the alarms about socialism and government barring the doctor’s door are all very familiar. They go back 44 years to the original Medicare legislation.

The case for a single payer health plan
COMMENTARY | May 25, 2009
Medicare advocate Judith Stein says only a public health plan would reduce costs, guarantee choice of doctors and assure quality care for everyone—the requirements for a national health care plan as spelled out by President Obama.

Is Medicare important to Obama? To McCain?
ASK THIS | August 27, 2008
How high a priority is Medicare for Obama and McCain? Both have positions on it but reporters should try to draw out their true understanding of the issues, or lack of it. Under Bush, Medicare is being privatized and is en route to extinction. Is one candidate more likely than the other to reverse that?

The House has moved to protect Medicare. Why won’t the Senate?
ASK THIS | May 22, 2008
Judith Stein on the Medicare issues now before Congress, including lavish subsidies for private plans and the status of slashes amounting to 15% in doctors’ fees.

For Medicare, 'modernization' means 'destruction'
COMMENTARY | March 10, 2008
The critical question, writes attorney Judith Stein, is: 'Will we keep giving away public money to private industry rather than toward necessary health care for older and disabled people?'

Medicare is under attack, but you can’t tell it by most press coverage
ASK THIS | January 07, 2008
Medicare, the great American health program, is under threat, its costs spiraling and benefits decreasing for millions who are leaving traditional Medicare for privatized versions. (First in a series)