Pat Wang joined Healthfirst as President and CEO in 2008. Healthfirst is a 1.8 million-member health insurer serving downstate New York. Its membership includes one-third of New York City’s Medicaid population and it serves a large population of Medicare beneficiaries who are also eligible for Medicaid. Healthfirst was founded and continues to be governed by area health systems. It works in close collaboration with area hospitals and community providers to improve health outcomes and equity.
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) appointed Ms. Wang to serve as a Commissioner on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which advises the U.S. Congress on Medicare payment policy, from 2016 through 2022. She is a former member of the Federal Reserve Bank Second District Community Advisory Group and is a Board member of the Alliance for Health Policy, which fosters bi-partisan and fact-based discussion of health policy issues in our nation’s capital. She also serves as a trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and the New York Health Plan Association (NYHPA). Ms. Wang was appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2020 to the Medicaid Redesign Team II. In early 2021, Cuomo chose her to co-chair the Vaccine Equity Taskforce to help ensure that all New Yorkers have equitable access to and confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine. Ms. Wang is equally committed to ensuring that her own company reflects these values by increasing diversity at all levels of the organization.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Wang was a law clerk to the Hon. Whitman Knapp, U.S.D.J. of the Southern District of New York, an attorney in private healthcare practice, and a senior executive of the Greater New York Hospital Association.
Ms. Wang is a graduate of Princeton University and New York University School of Law, cum laude. She has lived in the former Yugoslavia, Taiwan, and China and is a longtime resident of New York City.
