Naomi Zewde

Naomi Zewde is a scholar of public policy. She studies how public institutions can deliver health, medical care, and economic security across the economic distribution, and how we can directly compress the distribution. This includes comparing the Affordable Care Act’s public versus private coverage for households’ finances and healthcare access; evaluating the ability of Medicaid expansion to reduce the likelihood of poverty and home eviction; and the ability of basic income or federally funded trust funds (termed “Baby Bonds”) to reduce income and wealth inequality, especially for young Black adults. Her ongoing research examines private-insurance contracting in the Medicaid program, asking whether it saves money or improves health and how these outcomes affect the policy decision to privatize. Her work has been featured in academic outlets including the Journal of Risk and Insurance, Health Affairs, and the Review of Black Political Economy, and featured in popular press outlets like Ms. Magazine, the New York Times, and PBS Newshour.