Students

With the healthcare reform act running 2409 pages and regulation updates from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) weighing in at a hundred pages or so a week, states attempting to process information about the landmark legislation are overwhelmed.

It’s also keeping second year student Miguel Brumant very busy this summer.

An intern with the New York State Department of Insurance, Brumant is witnessing first-hand the impact of the new legislation as different advocacy groups come to the Department for guidance on how the new law will affect their constituencies. His function, to research and analyze the legislation and weekly regulatory updates, helps to manage the overflow of information and discern the real impact of the healthcare act.

Describing the pace, Brumant says, “There’s urgency to the work, but everything is incremental. You have very busy weeks followed by slow days.”

Originally from the West Indies, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Brumant relocated to New York for college and attended the City College of New York. He then enrolled in the Mailman School’s MPH program through the Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM). Planning to pursue a career in medicine, his interest in public health grew from the realization that problems in the healthcare system could not be addressed solely by practicing medicine.

“You need to understand the system to make better policies,” observes Brumant. “As well as the issues of cost, access, and quality of care, there are a host of social factors such as education and poverty that influence health outcomes.– understanding these connections can lead to better policy decisions .”

But as he learns more about healthcare policy, Brumant is leaninng away from his plan to go to medical school and contemplating law school instead. Brumant explains his change of heart, “Honestly, I read the Constitution. It amazes me that a document written 200 years ago applies to everything we do today – including health law. I recognized that I can have just as great an impact with a law degree as with a medical degree.”

It was during his Public Health Law class with Professor Magda Schaler-Haynes last spring that he learned about the internship (or practicum) opportunity. Prof. Schaler-Haynes, a Senior Health Policy Advisor at the agency, alerted him to the position and became his practicum supervisor.

Grateful for the support he received from Prof. Schaler-Haynes and HPM administrators, Brumant said, “What I really appreciate about HPM is that they try to help you find a practicum that’s right for you. I was very lucky and found a practicum perfectly tailored for me and my future plans.”