Julie Barnes
Director of Health Policy
Julie Barnes is the Director of Health Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. With years of experience as a health care attorney, policy analyst and Capitol Hill staffer, Ms. Barnes is a frequent writer and speaker on the American health care system. Prior to her role at BPC, Ms. Barnes served as Deputy Director and later as Acting Director of the New America Foundation Health Policy Program when federal health reform efforts were underway. Ms. Barnes directed New America’s outreach activities to educate industry stakeholders and policymakers about the issues in the health care reform debate and facilitated discussion among the key players to identify areas of agreement. In addition to insurance and delivery system reforms, Ms. Barnes focused on health information technology issues, state reform efforts and legal barriers to health reform.
Prior to joining New America, Ms. Barnes was a litigator and regulatory counsel in the Health Care Practice Group of Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. In addition to litigating compensation and benefit disputes, her practice included advice and counsel to managed care organizations, self-funded employers, behavioral health organizations, disease management companies and health-related trade associations on state and federal regulatory and litigation matters. Barnes has expertise in numerous statutes related to health care and employee benefits, including ERISA, HIPAA portability and privacy, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
Ms. Barnes is the author of several policy papers, the editor-in-chief of a legal textbook published by the Bureau of National Affairs entitled Managed Care Litigation, and is a frequent speaker for the American Health Lawyers Association and the Governance Institute. Ms. Barnes received her law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law and undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa. She is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bars.
Staff, Leaders' Project on the State of American Health Care
