Interview | Acting Healthcare Advocate Kathy Holt

The Office of the Healthcare Advocate was launched in 1999 when the Connecticut General Assembly established the Office of the Managed Care Ombudsman, and then in 2005 changed the agency's name to what we know it as today.

The OHA helps Connecticut consumers solve healthcare issues related to their insurance, and also advocates on their behalf, acting as a bridge between consumers and the healthcare industry, when coverage is denied.

Kathy Holt is currently serving as the acting Healthcare Advocate, having been nominated for the post by Gov. Ned Lamont in September. With the General Assembly's approval, she'll officially take on the role. Regardless, as the acting head of the OHA, Holt is on a mission to educate Connecticut consumers about her office's services and resources and to help constituents with various healthcare matters.

Further, with open enrollment underway for health insurance, and in particular Medicare, Holt sat down with CTNewsJunkie's Brian Scott-Smith to talk about the work of the OHA and important advice about shopping around and asking questions about insurance plans and what impact the new Trump administration may have on Medicare's future starting in 2025.

According to her bio, Holt earned her law degree from Seattle University School of Law and became a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Seattle. 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 with disabilities. She led that practice until she returned to Connecticut in 2014 as associate director and attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy, where she helped Medicare beneficiaries and patients in federal and state policy conversations.

Learn more about that OHA at portal.ct.gov/oha