Pamela B. Berkowsky on the Virgin Islands Health Reform Implementation Task Force: Implementing the President's Health Reform Agenda in the Virgin Islands

Pamela B. Berkowsky on the Virgin Islands Health Reform Implementation Task Force:

Implementing the President's Health Reform Agenda in the

Virgin Islands

Pamela B. Berkowsky, a federal and state government senior executive, most recently

served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Virgin Islands Governor John de Jongh, Jr., and as a key member of the Governor's Health Reform

Implementation Task Force.

The creation of the Task Force, chaired by the Lieutenant Governor who also serves as

Insurance Commissioner, was Berkowsky's idea as a means of ensuring that the territory's

population benefits fully from the Obama Administration's Patient Protection and

Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Comprised of 14 prominent Executive and Legislative officials

and healthcare industry professionals and established by Executive Order, the Task Force develops policy and budget recommendations for improving the territory's health care delivery

and funding under the Act.

Recent Task Force initiatives have addressed expanding health service availability for women and children, conducting a territorial insurance market analysis, and establishing a pathway to Medicaid parity for the Virgin Islands vis a vis the States. Pamela Berkowsky gained critical

experience in the healthcare field, having managed her husband's state-of-the-art

otolaryngic surgical practice for five years prior to joining the Governor's Administration.