Allie Gardner

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Allexa Gardner

Allie Gardner Dunakey is the Research Associate at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families (CCF). She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Georgetown University. Her master’s thesis, entitled “The Effect of the Affordable Care Act on Access to Care for Children in the South,” focused on the intersection of her interests in access to care and health care in rural communities. Allie earned a BS in Economics from the University of Alabama specializing in Public Policy and Law.
Before joining Center for Children and Families, she worked on domestic health policy at a state children’s hospital as well as foreign policy issues while serving in the public sector.

Latest From Allexa

Georgia and Missouri Postpartum Medicaid Waiver Approvals Promote Limited Coverage

As Say Ahh readers know, there have been bursts of Section 1115 demonstration activity since the start of the year. April was no different, bringing another flurry of actions from CMS. This time, however, there were some new demonstration approvals that promote coverage, albeit in a more limited way than we would have liked to […]

Medicaid Managed Care and Children with Disabilities: A Cautionary Tale

Loyal fans of the Say Ahhh! blog know that Medicaid is the nation’s largest health insurer for children, covering over 35 million. They also know that Medicaid does not exclude any child from coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition; in fact, some children qualify for Medicaid because they receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) […]

Some States’ Letters to CMS on Medicaid Work Requirements Double Down

Last month, CMS began taking steps to get rid of Medicaid section 1115 work requirement waivers as my colleague Joan Alker has written about. The Biden Administration sent letters to states with approved work requirements that “preliminarily” disapproved the policy on the basis of the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty of its aftermath on health and […]