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Natalie Lawson

is a Senior State Policy Analyst at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families.

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Natalie Lawson is a Senior State Policy Analyst with the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. She began her career as a community mental health social worker in Chicago for low-income adults with severe mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Natalie went on to hold various positions relating to health and behavioral health, including research and analysis at policy advocacy non-profits and working on federal and state technical assistance contracts. Prior to this role, she was a Graduate Research Associate on the Healthy Michigan Project examining the impact of Michigan’s Medicaid expansion in the state. Natalie holds an MHSA from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a BS in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago.

Latest

  • What to Expect From States When They’re Expecting Big Changes Due to HR 1

    The passage of the recently enacted tax and budget law (HR1) will have major implications for state budgets, but the impact will be disproportionate. For example, Medicaid, expansion states (plus Wisconsin and Georgia) will be required to implement work requirements, increasing administrative costs while putting up barriers to enrollment and retention. Other states will be…

  • Fraud and Abuse Against Medicaid: Rhetoric and Reality in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

    We have not cut Medicaid, and we have not cut SNAP.  What we’re doing…is working on fraud, waste, and abuse. And everyone in Louisiana and around the country understands that that’s a responsibility of Congress….[Medicaid] is intended for vulnerable populations, for young single pregnant women and the elderly and the disabled and people who desperately…

  • Research Update: Estimates of State Impact of Medicaid Cuts

    As we have written about extensively on Say Ahhh!, Medicaid is facing large cuts in the budget reconciliation process with hundreds of billions of dollars on the chopping block. It’s unclear how policymakers will meet the hundreds of billions in cuts assigned to programs under the jurisdiction of the House Energy and Commerce Committee but…

  • New Tool to Help States Support Community Health Workers – What Would Federal Medicaid Cuts Mean for Progress?

    Community health workers (also known as promotores and community health representatives) fill an important role in the health care system by linking individuals to public health and medical resources that support their health and well-being. Community health workers are unique in that they are trusted members of the community and are able to serve as…

  • New Brief: States Should Act to Ensure All Former Foster Youth Receive Medicaid Continuity of Coverage

    A group often overlooked in Medicaid coverage conversations is foster youth. While they are a small segment of the population, youth aging out of foster care have higher physical and mental health care needs than their peers, but often lack health insurance due to high costs. The authors of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took into…