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HARTFORD, CT - Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is nominating Kathleen Unger Holt of Mansfield to serve as Connecticut’s healthcare advocate.
Holt was most recently the associate director for the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a Connecticut-focused, national, nonprofit law organization that works to advance access to comprehensive Medicare coverage, health equity, and quality healthcare for older people and people with disabilities. In this role, which she held since 2014, she helped to lead the organization’s Connecticut and nationwide advocacy and outreach efforts, worked with lawmakers on the development of Medicare-related healthcare bills both on state and federal levels, and spoke as an advocate to raise public awareness about healthcare issues.
She was recommended to Governor Lamont by the Healthcare Advocate Advisory Committee, a group consisting of appointees of bipartisan legislative leaders. The committee recently completed a statutorily-required process to search for and evaluate candidates who could be nominated to the position, and then provided the governor with a list of its endorsed candidates.
“I am very excited that Kathy Holt has accepted our offer to serve as Connecticut’s next healthcare advocate because she has an incredible amount of experience, both here in our state and on a national level, in helping people access the coverage they need and advocating on their behalf, especially for people who are older, people who have disabilities, and people who frequently face barriers to obtaining health insurance,” Governor Lamont said. “Kathy is going to be an excellent partner for our administration, the legislature, and the people of Connecticut to help develop the policies we need to strengthen access to affordable, high-quality health insurance.”
“I am thrilled to accept Governor Lamont’s nomination as Connecticut’s healthcare advocate, working to ensure every Connecticut resident has the best possible access to affordable, quality healthcare,” Holt said. “In addition to assisting individuals obtain access to healthcare services, the Office of the Healthcare Advocate represents the collective voice of all Connecticut patients. I look forward to collaborating with healthcare providers, insurers, employers, other state agencies, and state and federal legislators to coordinate, deliver, oversee, and improve healthcare in Connecticut, making Connecticut a healthcare model for the country.”
Holt, who was raised in Newtown, began her career working with the insurance company Cigna in Bloomfield, where she developed insurance claim process improvement strategies. After earning a Master of Business Administration in healthcare management from the University of Connecticut, she helped protect patient rights and expand patient services as a hospital administrator, first at New Britain Memorial Hospital and then at Northwest Hospital in Seattle, Washington.
Upon obtaining her law degree from Seattle University School of Law in 1993, Holt became a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Seattle. In that position, she authored health law opinions, litigated in federal court, and served as an in-house attorney for administrative law judges.
In 1997, following the birth of her second child who was born with significant disabilities, Holt founded a Seattle-area law practice to advocate for the needs of older people and people who have disabilities. She led this practice until her arrival at the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
In addition to her professional work, Holt volunteers her time with several organizations, including service as chair of the board of directors for the Yale-New Haven Health System’s Lawrence + Memorial Hospital; as a member of the board of directors for Team Gleason, an organization that advocates for people living with ALS; as a commissioner for the Mansfield Housing Authority, which assists low and moderate-income families with safe, decent, and affordable housing; and as a public member of the Connecticut Teacher’s Retirement Board.
Holt will begin serving as healthcare advocate in an interim capacity effective September 30, 2024. At the start of the next regular legislative session, which begins January 8, 2025, the Office of the Governor will forward Holt’s nomination to the Connecticut General Assembly for its advice and consent. Upon being confirmed by the legislature during the regular session, she will begin serving a full four-year term.
Holt will succeed the most recent healthcare advocate, Ted Doolittle, who stepped down from the position last year to accept an appointment as a federal immigration judge. Since Doolittle’s departure, Sean King, who is the general counsel for the Office of the Healthcare Advocate, has been serving as acting healthcare advocate.
The position of healthcare advocate is responsible for serving as the head of the Office of the Healthcare Advocate, a state agency that provides free direct legal services, advice, and support to Connecticut families and businesses facing health insurance claim denials or other challenges with their public or private health coverage. Its staff helps resolve disputes with health insurers and seeks to protect consumers’ access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. In addition, the healthcare advocate serves as a subject matter expert on issues related to healthcare access and coverage, providing education and feedback to legislators, regulators, and other policymakers in support of consumer-supportive changes to laws, regulations, policies, and other systemic structures that make up the healthcare environment in Connecticut and nationally.