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 U.S health policy and politics. A political scientist by training, I additionally hold a courtesy appointment in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Political Science. Prior to joining the Pitt faculty, 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, Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, JAMA Pediatrics, and World Medical & Health Policy Journal.
My op-eds and other health care commentary has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post's Monkey Cage, The Hill, Rewire News, Public Seminar, Bustle, The Conversation, Medium, and KevinMD, and I have appeared on France 24, CBC News, and NPR Morning Edition to discuss American politics and health policy. I have additionally been interviewed for pieces in such outlets as Huffington Post, Politico, The Guardian, The Hill, and STATNews. I additionally wrote numerous health policy briefs on the COVID-19 pandemic through the project Brief-19.
Research Focus: My health policy work draws on the American political economy lens to examine administrative burden as a driver of health and health insurance disparities in the U.S. (across both public and private insurance), as well as the politics of health reform. My forthcoming book Coverage Denied: How Health Insurers Drive Inequality in the United States, is under contract with Cambridge University Press (expected publication in spring 2026) and combines quantitative analysis of original survey research and semi-structured interviews with patients, physicians, health insurance executives, and others to examine the scope and impact of health insurance coverage denials (especially though not exclusively through prior authorization, and how they exacerbate inequities through the imposition of administrative burdens of appealing. 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. 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.
Related Academic Work: I am the 2025 Author-in-Residence at the Roosevelt Institute, through which I am completing my forthcoming book and pursuing related work on racial and economic justice in health and political economy of health. I am also 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 to improve public policy and strengthen democracy.
Academic Background: 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 bureaucratic 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.
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 political campaigns as well as voting rights advocacy in Washington DC. A Bay Area native, I received a B.A. with honors in Political Science from UC Berkeley in 2009.
A Little More About Me: 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 (Bruuuuce) and watching sports (go NY Yankees (don't judge...), SF Giants, and Golden State Warriors!). Find me on BlueSky.
My op-eds and other health care commentary has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post's Monkey Cage, The Hill, Rewire News, Public Seminar, Bustle, The Conversation, Medium, and KevinMD, and I have appeared on France 24, CBC News, and NPR Morning Edition to discuss American politics and health policy. I have additionally been interviewed for pieces in such outlets as Huffington Post, Politico, The Guardian, The Hill, and STATNews. I additionally wrote numerous health policy briefs on the COVID-19 pandemic through the project Brief-19.
Research Focus: My health policy work draws on the American political economy lens to examine administrative burden as a driver of health and health insurance disparities in the U.S. (across both public and private insurance), as well as the politics of health reform. My forthcoming book Coverage Denied: How Health Insurers Drive Inequality in the United States, is under contract with Cambridge University Press (expected publication in spring 2026) and combines quantitative analysis of original survey research and semi-structured interviews with patients, physicians, health insurance executives, and others to examine the scope and impact of health insurance coverage denials (especially though not exclusively through prior authorization, and how they exacerbate inequities through the imposition of administrative burdens of appealing. 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. 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.
Related Academic Work: I am the 2025 Author-in-Residence at the Roosevelt Institute, through which I am completing my forthcoming book and pursuing related work on racial and economic justice in health and political economy of health. I am also 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 to improve public policy and strengthen democracy.
Academic Background: 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 bureaucratic 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.
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 political campaigns as well as voting rights advocacy in Washington DC. A Bay Area native, I received a B.A. with honors in Political Science from UC Berkeley in 2009.
A Little More About Me: 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 (Bruuuuce) and watching sports (go NY Yankees (don't judge...), SF Giants, and Golden State Warriors!). Find me on BlueSky.