My name is Miranda Yaver. I am an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Pittsburgh, where I teach courses on health policy and politics in the undergraduate program in public health. Prior to this position, I was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and a postdoctoral researcher in Health Policy and Management in the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. My research has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Law, Economics & Organization, Scientific Reports, and the Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law.
My health policy work focuses on health insurance coverage denials and the ways in which they deepen health and economic inequality. My book manuscript Coverage Denied combines quantitative analysis of original survey research and semi-structured interviews with patients, physicians, health insurance executives, and others on the magnitude and impact of health coverage denials especially but extending beyond the practice of prior authorization. I further examine administrative burdens and resulting inequities in the context of the little-studied subject of COBRA health insurance. I additionally examine in other projects the ways in which political conditions shape the impact that policies have on public health outcomes and reproductive health policy. I have further conducted survey research on the impact of COVID-19 on health care utilization, mental health, and access to sexual and reproductive health care. Related to my work on health insurance coverage denials, I am working on second book project examining the policy feedback effects surrounding the health politics of ERISA and the ways in which its statutory design harms the very American workers whom the law was ostensibly aimed at protecting. This research combines original survey research, elite interviews, original data collection on related bill introductions and court cases, and historical analysis to trace the rationale for, and durability of this law that induces a new economic insecurity in the American worker.
Alongside my peer-reviewed research, I am the co-leader of the Central Pennsylvania chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together a multidisciplinary group of scholars to translate academic research into public facing work for dissemination to policymakers and the broader public.
I completed my PhD in Political Science at Columbia University in 2015, with emphases in American Politics (major subfield) and Methodology (minor subfield). My dissertation, "When Do Agencies Have Agency? Bureaucratic Noncompliance and Dynamic Lawmaking in the United States, 1973-2010," examined the conditions under which administrative agencies implement in ways that provoke constraints from Congress and the courts, often for behavior that I refer to as noncompliance. My political science interests span a wide range of American institutions and inter-branch conflict in lawmaking and policy implementation. I am also interested in the challenges of health policy implementation at the federal and state levels.
My op-eds and other health care commentary has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post's Monkey Cage Blog, Rewire News, Public Seminar, Bustle, The Conversation, Medium, and KevinMD, and I have appeared on France 24 and CBC News to discuss American politics and policy. I additionally wrote numerous health policy briefs on the COVID-19 pandemic through the project Brief-19.
Prior to graduate school, I was engaged in political science and methodology research at my alma mater of UC Berkeley (go bears!), assisted with ESL and writing workshops in San Francisco, and worked on Democratic political campaigns as well as voting rights advocacy in Washington DC. A San Francisco Bay Area native, I received a B.A. with honors in Political Science from UC Berkeley in 2009.
In addition to doing American politics and health policy research, I have performed stand-up comedy throughout New York City, New Haven, Boston, and Los Angeles. When not working or performing, I enjoy catching live music and watching sports (go NY Yankees, SF Giants, and Golden State Warriors!). Find me on Twitter at @mirandayaver, Threads, or BlueSky.
My health policy work focuses on health insurance coverage denials and the ways in which they deepen health and economic inequality. My book manuscript Coverage Denied combines quantitative analysis of original survey research and semi-structured interviews with patients, physicians, health insurance executives, and others on the magnitude and impact of health coverage denials especially but extending beyond the practice of prior authorization. I further examine administrative burdens and resulting inequities in the context of the little-studied subject of COBRA health insurance. I additionally examine in other projects the ways in which political conditions shape the impact that policies have on public health outcomes and reproductive health policy. I have further conducted survey research on the impact of COVID-19 on health care utilization, mental health, and access to sexual and reproductive health care. Related to my work on health insurance coverage denials, I am working on second book project examining the policy feedback effects surrounding the health politics of ERISA and the ways in which its statutory design harms the very American workers whom the law was ostensibly aimed at protecting. This research combines original survey research, elite interviews, original data collection on related bill introductions and court cases, and historical analysis to trace the rationale for, and durability of this law that induces a new economic insecurity in the American worker.
Alongside my peer-reviewed research, I am the co-leader of the Central Pennsylvania chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together a multidisciplinary group of scholars to translate academic research into public facing work for dissemination to policymakers and the broader public.
I completed my PhD in Political Science at Columbia University in 2015, with emphases in American Politics (major subfield) and Methodology (minor subfield). My dissertation, "When Do Agencies Have Agency? Bureaucratic Noncompliance and Dynamic Lawmaking in the United States, 1973-2010," examined the conditions under which administrative agencies implement in ways that provoke constraints from Congress and the courts, often for behavior that I refer to as noncompliance. My political science interests span a wide range of American institutions and inter-branch conflict in lawmaking and policy implementation. I am also interested in the challenges of health policy implementation at the federal and state levels.
My op-eds and other health care commentary has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post's Monkey Cage Blog, Rewire News, Public Seminar, Bustle, The Conversation, Medium, and KevinMD, and I have appeared on France 24 and CBC News to discuss American politics and policy. I additionally wrote numerous health policy briefs on the COVID-19 pandemic through the project Brief-19.
Prior to graduate school, I was engaged in political science and methodology research at my alma mater of UC Berkeley (go bears!), assisted with ESL and writing workshops in San Francisco, and worked on Democratic political campaigns as well as voting rights advocacy in Washington DC. A San Francisco Bay Area native, I received a B.A. with honors in Political Science from UC Berkeley in 2009.
In addition to doing American politics and health policy research, I have performed stand-up comedy throughout New York City, New Haven, Boston, and Los Angeles. When not working or performing, I enjoy catching live music and watching sports (go NY Yankees, SF Giants, and Golden State Warriors!). Find me on Twitter at @mirandayaver, Threads, or BlueSky.